Unlikely Brothers
by Obi the Kid
Summary: A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my new original characters Dashen Lesedi and Tannerlin Vai. Tannerlin is a Jedi apprentice who survives the Jedi Purge. Dashen is the one who saves his life and helps him move on.
1. Unlikely Brothers

_**Author's note:**_

'_Unlikely Brothers' will be a series of stories that take place in the lives of two new characters I created. Tannerlin Vai is Jedi apprentice who is nine years old at the time of the Jedi purge. He survives the purge and has to learn to move on from it. Dashen Lesedi, (fifteen years old at the time and with his own emotionally troubled past), is the one responsible for saving Tannerlin's life. Together, they figure out how to move beyond their pasts. And as different as they are, these unlikely brothers discover that what they need most of all, is each other. Included in their adventures is a criminal mastermind type named Virgil Colton who will help guide them in his own unique ways._

_I started this idea over a year ago (inspired by the TV show Supernatural and the Cal Leandros & Korsak Brother books by Rob Thurman). This first in the series went through five major re-writes and countless edits to get it to where I wanted it. It's a series that I'm just having fun with. The stories will be in no particular order age-wise. As plot bunnies happen, stories will form around them. I will include Tannerlin's age in the beginning notes of each story to tell at what point in his life that particular story within the series takes place. The stories will bounce around back and forth, beginning when he is nine. _

_As with all my stories, these are non-slash/non-smut and most will be rated PG for some mild cuss/swear words. Each story within the series will also be told from a first-person POV. _

_Please forgive any typos, etc. I tried to get them all, but there are always a few that manage to escape. I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

**Story Title:** Unlikely Brothers

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my new original characters Dashen and Tannerlin.

**POV:** Dashen

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi) and Virgil Colton

* * *

"Damn it, Tanner, RUN! Faster!"

Okay, so running was probably a bad idea. It not only drew attention to us, but it made us look guilty…which of course we were. I was continuing to aid and abet a fugitive (of sorts) and that said fugitive was a red-hot commodity. A bright and shiny target on his head meant reward. _Big_ reward. Problem was, the reward had the dirty hands of Emperor Paplatine smeared all over it and the fugitive I was helping? He was the grand ole age of nine standard years. Not even into the double digits yet. And to top things off, the kid was a Jedi.

And me where it concerns the Jedi? Not a fan!

Yup, Tannerlin Vai was a Jedi, one of the few left in the galaxy after the mass slaughter ordered by the new Empire. He'd been here on my home planet of Terra with his master and a small landing party of four others. No idea why, probably some political mumbo jumbo that Jedi were always getting themselves mixed up in. Whatever it was, they never made it. Ambushed and taken captive; destined to die, but only after information was extracted from each of them about location of other Jedi. I'd found the kid ten days after the fact in the bottom level basement of one of the many abandoned buildings on the outskirts of Kaolin - the town I called home. He was alive. Don't ask me how, but he was, if you could call it living. He was the only one in his party still breathing. The rest of them - all adult Jedi - long since dead. And they didn't go easy. Their deaths were savage. I didn't need to have been there to know it. The scene in the cold and wet basement – more like a dungeon really - was enough for me. I'd seen death before. A lot of it. I'd never seen anything like this though. I wasn't an admirer of the Jedi. Honestly, I kind of despised them – I just never really had a reason why – just one of those things I suppose that's born into your head – you know, human nature and all that. But the kid…well, Jedi or not, he was a _kid_. And he'd survived the attack by hiding in a hole in the wall, and because of that and that alone, he'd escaped the ghastly scene that was laid out in all its gruesomeness. Turns out he'd been put there by his Jedi master and told to stay concealed no matter what happened. How he obeyed that order and remained quiet while his fellow Jedi were being tortured just a stone-toss away, I couldn't begin to fathom. Hell, I didn't even want to fathom.

Eyes closed, clothing soiled with dirt and bodily fluids when I found him, I'd pulled him out of the hidden wall boards - he didn't have much left in him. Emaciated and dehydrated after ten days there…another day or so, the life might have drained right out of him.

I remembered trying to convince him to come with me...

_/_

"_Come on, kid, you can't stay in there. You need to leave before they come back. Here, I'll help you."_

_I'd reached my hands toward him, but he didn't reach back. Scared, frozen, out of his head, I really couldn't tell, but he did look at me with strange pale russet eyes lost and haunted. I pulled my hands back and sat next to the hole in the wall; a hole no bigger than a rats nest and almost as disgusting. His legs were pulled to his chest because there was simply no other place for them to be. _

_No matter what I did or said, he wouldn't budge and half of my brain wanted to just walk away. I mean why would I want or even need to get caught up with a Jedi of all things? After all, weren't they nothing more than an order of high and mighty robe-wearing wanna-be gods who had some weird control over this Force crap and could toss things around with their minds? Did I really need that in my life?_

_That thought almost…**almost** had me up and out…but damn that kid. Something kept me there and I tried again to help._

"_Can you tell me your name at least?"_

_He'd just kept still in that hole, staring at me no matter what I asked him; no matter what I did. Just those two brown eyes filled with tears of fear and terror and every other horrifying emotion. _

"_How about I just call you, Mouse? You're skinny and small and quiet and you have brown hair. That name just might fit, kid." No reaction. Nothing. I tried one last time and dare I say I actually pleaded with him. For my sake and his. Those Empire nuts that did this, they could return any minute. And I had no desire to take my last breath of life in this basement of death. One last time…"It's okay, kid. You can trust me. Just trust me. I'll get you out of this place safe. I promise."_

_Finally (whew!) he'd given me his hands and I yanked (yes, I had to actually yank him free, his legs were crunched in there so tightly) him from the hiding spot and held him upright on his knees for a long minute._

_His legs were partially atrophied, but they moved enough for him to crawl over to the man closest to us. A small hand lay on the older man's forehead, then he touched his temple to the fallen Jedi…and said goodbye. The first words he'd spoken in the ten minutes since I'd found him. Silent tears flooded his young eyes as he gathered the meager belongings of the fallen and bloodied man. Then he turned to me, face as wet as the ocean, and nodded. I took that as a sign that he was ready to leave this hellish place. Filth covered and practically skin and bones, I carried him up and out._

_/_

If I'd had any sense, I would have put the kid out of his misery then and there. A mercy killing and not all that uncommon on this planet called Terra. I had access to drugs that could do the job quickly and painlessly. But I didn't use them. No, that would have been too easy and my life was never about easy. Me and all my brilliance decided to salvage the poor soul and drag him out of the basement and into some type of safety. Don't ask me why I did it. I've not a damn clue. Instinct just told me to, so I did. I guess it was instinct.

Now, we're about a month into this thing and someone tipped those damn clone troopers off that there was a Jedi-looking kid hanging around the city. We spotted them, they spotted us, so we ran. I had us running away from the general direction of my apartment so at the very least we could track back without being ambushed ourselves.

See? All of this because I had a moment of weakness and saved some scrawny little Jedi kid. Jedi. They really were more trouble than they were worth at times…what was left of them at least.

The bigger problem with all of this was that he kid was still recovering from his injuries and condition, both physically and emotionally. He didn't think on his feet and his body didn't react when it needed to. His nine year old mind was still in a constant state of disbelief and panic. Part of the time he was barely functional, semi-responsive and just flat-out slow. Not to mention he was short. I, myself was tall – well, tall for fifteen. Tall and wiry. I could out sprint almost anything on two legs around these parts. But I had to remember that I wasn't alone anymore. It wasn't just about saving my own butt. I had this kid to look after. And at nine, I guess he wasn't an expert in all that Force stuff that Jedi learn, not to mention that he refused to use it – did I forget that part? I'm not sure if he was just too terrified or if he didn't know his abilities, but so much for having a Jedi around. At this beginning stage of his recovery, he couldn't do a damn thing to help himself.

Why did I save this kid again?

I ran back, grabbed his arm, took the next left and dragged him into a red-mortar building, then through the seldom used, hardly known passage to the underground caves. It had saved me in the past and I needed it to save me again. I needed it to save us both.

It took me a while to catch my breath. I sat on the ground – hands on my thighs - leaning forward with my black shoulder length hair hanging in my face. The kid was still upright, that had to be a good thing, right? Breathing was hard though; too hard for such a short sprint. I grabbed his arm and pulled him into a sitting position to see his face. The light in the caves, provided by what I called glow-stones (I didn't know and couldn't pronounce the long, boring eighteen letter scientific name) was adequate for me to see him - to really see him. Struggling wasn't the correct word, but it fit well enough. His uncertain eyes were darting back and forth and I could have hit myself at that moment. Nice work, Dash. Real solid thinking there. Drag the kid back into another claustrophobic dungeon. Give him instant flashbacks to his own personal hell. Yup, use those brain cells.

I do tend to be brilliant at times. Naturally, this was not one of those times.

"Damn it, I'm sorry Tanner. I didn't think. We won't be here long, okay? Just enough to shake them, then we can go home."

Home was a cramped apartment about twelve blocks from where we were right now. We could follow the cave tunnels and come out several streets past my place. It would be safer from a 'don't-get-killed' standpoint, but I didn't think it best for Tannerlin.

Tannerlin Vai. Nine years old, light auburn hair, pallid brown eyes, short and thin. Built for quickness – once upon a time. He wasn't anything close to quick since I'd known him. A month recovering from the worst of the atrophy to his legs, but he still had some weakness there. Not to mention the nightmares that kept him up half the night. I wasn't a healer, but I'd say he was still somewhat under nourished as well, despite me pushing as much food as I could into his system. I couldn't sneak him into a healer – not while he still looked so much like an escaped Jedi (which he was), and it was slow getting weight to stick as his body seemed to enjoy being half-starved. And of course, it didn't help that his appetite was about that of a mud shrimp either. He _was_ eating though, and that was positive. More importantly – emotionally - he was still pretty broken. I didn't know what he was like before all of this, but I'm confident it wasn't anything that I'd seen.

Time. I kept telling myself that time was the answer. It had to be.

I also kept asking myself why the hell I was doing this. It was a problem I didn't need and didn't want. I could drop the kid off at the local orphan shelter and move on with my life. But no, no I couldn't. I've seen the kids there who spend their unhappy lives shuffled from place to place, never having a true home or a true family. Not that I was Tannerlin's family. I was just helping him get strong enough so he could figure out what was next for his life. Eluding the Empire would be a big part of it, and I had no want, nor need to be spending my next forty years running away from ole Palpy and his power hungry pals. The Jedi were his sworn enemy…and I wanted no part of any of it.

Help the kid recover and then move on. Right. Sure. That was my plan exactly.

I stood after a few minutes and pulled him with me. I'd decided against surfacing. Those guys up there weren't giving up that easily, not yet. We'd have to walk the tunnels.

"We can't go back up yet, Tanner. These tunnels lead just past my place. Remember I was telling you about the tunnel system that runs around the city? It's not used much anymore (except by moronic children) and people tend to forget about it, but it's still open and available. It's just dark and cold, most of it. There aren't a lot of glow stones in some areas. I think it's safer for now though. So, just grab onto my jacket and stick close, all right? We'll be home soon enough."

He nodded, still not much of a talker. Another side effect of the trauma, I guessed. Or maybe all Jedi kids were like this, who knew? He spoke when he really needed to say something. But he did quietly latch onto my jacket and didn't lose that grasp until we reached the surface. I moved us fast. We each stumbled some and in the darker areas, he wrapped two hands into my coat - a little more difficult to maneuver, but doable. Climbing out of the tunnel, I found calm. A few passersby, but no one who paid any mind to two filth covered kids crawling out of a hole in the ground. Kids were kids no matter what planet you were on and kids liked to explore. To anyone else nearby, that's all we were.

We hurried the few blocks to the apartment building. I tossed a casual wave to Jonna, apartment manager (a giant dragonfly type creature) and Pojo Chezit, the resident wall-ornament slash security guard (something of a cross between a Hutt and a Wookie. Ah, don't ask – don't tell, and I really don't want to know, but he was good people.)

Upstairs, Tannerlin stood silent in the doorway at the entrance to the main room, which also doubled as his sleeping area. The apartment was only one small bedroom, a box-sized kitchen, a bathroom and a common area with a half couch. The couch doubled as his bed (thankfully he was small), but he didn't walk towards it. He only stood quietly gazing off into nowhere. I'm sure his mind was racing off to the past and thinking of horribly evil things that were done to him and his friends, thanks to me and my brilliantly terrifying escape route.

After a few minutes I tugged the apartment door shut and I went to get him, moving him over to his bed. "You should rest, Tanner."

He resisted and pulled away from my hand on his elbow. Rising panic surfaced quickly. "How did…they find me? What if they catch me and take me? They'll kill me just like they killed my master."

Ah, so betrayal was on his mind. Someone had apparently ratted us out, or not so much us as him. The people of Terra were a good people for the most part, but it did have a solid population of scandalous and immoral types (don't all planets?) and my town of Kaolin was a prime location for some of the bigger names. I'd no doubt that given the right price one of those greedy monsters would sell the kid out in a second if they even guessed that he _might_ be a Jedi. A few might hesitate because of his age. Some criminal types weren't so cold hearted as others. The rest were pretty damn ruthless. All I know for certain is that it wasn't me who had given up the ghost. I mean, sure I'd halfway thought about leaving him in the basement dungeon that long month ago, but he was a kid! A child, not even a decade old and after understanding part of that fear that was living inside of him, I could have never willingly turn him over to be murdered in cold blood. I'd die before I gave him up for _that_.

So, what this all meant was that the jury was out on who may have ratted on us. The only people I saw everyday were Jonna and Pojo, but I'd dragged Tannerlin with me to several other places in the last week. He still looks Jedi with the short spiked hair and the banded braid. It wasn't a popular hair style around here and he stood out. But I couldn't make hair grow and our attempts at camouflaging the braid (he wouldn't allow me to cut it off) were only partially successful, so I guess I just needed to do a better job of hiding him.

For now he didn't need hiding, he just needed comforting. I'd try…"No, they won't take you, Tanner. I promise I won't let that happen. We'll figure this out, but they will not take you, I swear it."

What the hell was I saying? I think I was having a brain meltdown, or an intelligence melt down at least. I couldn't promise that! I wasn't much of a fighter. My skills were in eluding and running away, not outdueling Empires. Yet the words just babbled themselves out and bam! I'd just promised the kid I'd keep him safe from the most dangerous force in the entire galaxy.

See? I'm not only an idiot, but during those certain special times, I'm the most brilliant idiot around.

I conceded what I was and allowed it to wander my mind for a bit when the kid decided – out of the blue – to ask me that one question that I was hoping I'd never hear.

"Why?"

There it was. The dreaded _**why**_. Why, why, why, why…and I tried immediately to play dumb.

"Uh, why what?" It didn't work. He went for the jugular.

"Why do you want to help me? Why are you helping me? You don't even like Jedi."

Ouch. And how did he know that I didn't like Jedi? I know they can be a little creepy with that Force stuff, but psychic, this kid? Nah. Eh. Worries for later.

As for the _why_ in general, I thought I had my answer. I'd had a family once. Parents. A brother. They all died. The death of my little brother (eight years old at the time) hit me hardest. We were on our own after our parents had passed. Kossi got sick. Really sick. On our own for two years, I didn't have the resources of the connections to get him the proper help. I bought what I could off the street with the little money I had, but the medicines didn't help and a few months later, he was dead. Kossi's death left me broken and completely on my own at thirteen, almost two years ago. Since then, other than some patchy help from a sort-of friend, all I've really had was me.

Then this kid shows up, needing help…and Jedi or not, I guess maybe that's why I jumped in when I did. A reminder of my little brother? Maybe. Maybe this was Kossi's way of forcing me to move on and make my life mean something past the age of thirteen, because honestly – for these past two years, I'd been running on fumes. Finding work as a solo runner only because I needed to keep my cheap apartment and occasionally make sure I had food in my belly.

But now…now I had this inkling of something…something that made me believe that Kossi's death was a stepping stone in my life; that I needed to keep moving forward somehow; and that I couldn't give up on me….or on this kid.

I didn't spill all those beans – not completely, and I was ready with a prepared work of fiction to toss at the kid, but looking at all of those conflicting emotions running across his face, I opted for the truth instead. It was the simplest road after all and being in innocent in this whole thing, Tanner didn't deserve anything less.

"Why? Because you need help and because you remind me of my little brother. He died almost exactly twenty months ago. He got really sick and I couldn't do much to help him…I _can_ help you though."

Tannerlin watched me intently – an odd feeling when a Jedi stares into your soul – for a minute that went on forever until he finally turned his lips into a sad smile. A smile that was for me and me alone. Then he went and said something that no one else had ever said to me in those twenty months.

"I'm sorry about your brother."

Yup, stabbed me right in the heart. That's what he did. Just when I thought I was over Kossi's death, someone had to go and say something sympathetic and caring and damn it, all! But, man it felt good. For the first time in a long time, it actually felt like someone gave a crap about what happened to me. Even if it was a Jedi kid I'd known for barely a month and who had no idea who Kossi even was other than being my dead brother. And now…now I'm having to wipe my face and my hands are still dirty, so I've got dirt smeared all over me and…and…Tannerlin bent down towards where I was on the couch and put his arms around me in an unexpected hug. And just like the words, it got me. Something I'd needed for a long time. Twenty months to be exact. All this time, I'd just needed someone to honestly and truly care about me, even if it was only for a few minutes. Funny how that all works out. Here I was – here I am – helping this kid recover from something horrible, when I hadn't ever finished recovering from my own something horrible.

Irony can be so ironic.

Damn Jedi…

I accepted the hug and returned it, patting him lightly on the back and saying not one word more.

I slept better that night than I had in a long, long time. That being said, I only slept until 2AM. 2AM is when the world came crashing in on me…again.

I launched myself out of bed, pushed my window open and then ran to the couch. Without warning, I dragged Tannerlin off his bed and to the far side of the room. To his credit, he didn't resist, although I think I scared the living daylights out of him. The floorboards came up easily enough and I stuffed us into the cubby hole below, locked the 'door' from the inside out and slapped a hand over the boy's mouth. As much as I hated cramming him into another hole to hide (he still had nightmares about the first), it was our lives on the line.

"No sounds. They're here."

I didn't have to get any more specific. Those damned Empire driven clone things had figured out where the missing Jedi-boy was living and they were storming the apartments. I'd planned for this since they'd started on our tail a few days ago. The cubby we were in though wasn't really designed for two people. I'd put it in myself a year ago -a place to hide if any of my not-so-nice clients (or victims of those clients) ever tried to kill me. Hadn't happened yet, thankfully; but this…well this might be a tad bit worse than that if we were found.

Our heads weren't but a few inches under the floor, so we felt and heard everything as they made their way into and around my apartment. Items were tossed – thrown really – or hurled? Perhaps hurled is a better term. Yup, it was. Items were hurled across the room, crashing into and breaking my non-valuables. Just stuff. It was all just stuff. I could replace stuff. I'd had enough sense to pre-hide Tanner's Jedi-identifying items in the cubby already. No evidence of what he really was would be left for those troopers to find.

There wasn't much. His and his master's light sabers; a few trinkets; a lock of his master's hair that was intertwined with his own; a small data pad and a couple of other odds and ends. Nothing that took up a huge section of room. Hopefully those Empire boys would fall for my decoy and go. It was ten minutes later, but they did. I overheard a few words about an open window and a fire escape then boots pounded out of the apartment.

A quiet minute went by and I made a motion to unlatch the overhead door, when Tanner grabbed my wrist. I couldn't really see him in the dark, even though he was practically wrapped in my arms (did I mention this cubby was small?) but I had feeling he was shaking his head, telling me not yet. I kept still. The kid hadn't said or shown much of those Jedi senses in the few weeks I'd known him, but it was obvious he knew something I didn't.

His hand didn't move from my wrist. It was his signal that it wasn't safe yet. A half hour passed. My legs cramped. An hour. My neck cramped. Another ten minutes. My feet were numb from being stationary and restricted for so long when finally, I heard it -a muffled comm order followed by the sound of two sets of boots moving out and away. Yeah, the kid had just saved both our necks. Not to mention our lives. They'd left two behind in case we reappeared. Sneaky. Not sneaky enough for Force-boy though. At least I guessed that's how he knew.

He released my wrist a few minutes later and I reached up to unlock the door overhead. Slowly and painfully I unwrapped myself from Tanner and climbed out. I pulled him up behind me. My first thought should have been, 'My home! Destroyed!', but no, it was more along the lines of 'run the hell away!' I turned to Tanner and pointed down into the hole. "Get your things. We can't stay here anymore. It's not safe. They'll be back. We have to go. The travel bag I gave you, stuff as much as you can into it. Your belongings and then whatever clothes you can. All the rest of this…it's not important."

No words (did I mention the kid wasn't yet much of a talker when there was no need for it?), but he nodded and worked quickly. Within fifteen minutes we were ready. I stood in the doorway. "Well, it's been home for a while. I'll miss it, but it's just a space. We'll find another one. Come on, Mouse. Hurry."

His version of hurry still wasn't very fast. Lingering aches and pains in his legs did just that, lingered. Even in a nine year old, a body so deprived needed time to heal completely. So I tried not to pull him too fast along beside me. The streets were typically saturated with the Kaolin nightlife. Until about 3AM, the place was bustling. The crowd – the nightlighters as they were called – were out and about like swarms of flies. There was never a dull moment in Kaolin. I'd miss this place, but I enjoyed breathing better, so we were over this town. I had to make a stop on the outskirts first though. I kept an eye and ear out for any sign of the clones as we scurried in and around and between. I did my best to look less like an escapee and more like a nightlighter. I think I was partially successful. As long as we made to our destination without any blaster holes in our chests, I considered that a success.

It was several grueling miles later when I banged on the large metal door for a very lengthy five minutes. When it finally opened, the big man on the other side looked less than thrilled to see me. Wait a second, no, that was an understatement. Royally ticked off? That seemed the better choice here.

Standing a few inches over six feet with shoulder-blade length blonde hair and murdering sky blue eyes, with a well-tanned strong and sturdy build, Virgil Colton was both the ladies man and a master criminal. Turns out he was playing one of those parts at the moment and the 'ladies' for the evening - two half human, half whatever's, came wandering to his side…_half_ dressed. I smacked a hand over Tanner's eyes, (What? The kid was nine!), and waited for the ladies to giggle themselves past us, down the block and out of sight. Okay good. I removed my hand from the kid's face and looked up trying to forget about what I'd just seen.

I was fifteen. I had active hormones. It was difficult.

Focus, Dash, focus!

"Colt, we need help."

"What the hell, Dash? When I don't answer the door after a three knocks, you leave. Remember our rules? Damn it, kid. I know what this is about, so I'll forgive you for interrupting my…" His eyes moved to see Tanner then back to me. "My…never mind. Get inside before you attract attention and get shot in the head. Idiot! I swear to the Gods!"

Idiot was his pet name for me. I often lived up to it.

Colton pulled a shirt on and pointed to the extra large couch. No, _extra large_ wasn't being generous enough. Super-sized? It took up most of the massive lounge room. The couch was bigger than my entire – and former – apartment. I loved that couch.

"You, kid," he started, "the little one. Sit and stay. You, kid. The foolish one. Come _here_."

I followed Colton down the hall into his office where he shut the door behind us, put hands on either side of my face and shook me. "What the hell is wrong with you? Bringing him here! Do I need to draw more attention to myself? No, I don't think so. I am a criminal, Dash, in case you've forgotten that and all that I've taught you in the last what? Almost two years. Damn it, kid! One thing you don't do is leave a trail of bread crumbs for security forces to track right to the house of a criminal. You just don't do it. I know I've told you that, I know I have. Please tell me I have."

I figured he'd be ticked, but I could defend my actions. Colton was my sort-of friend that had helped me along my meandering path since Kossi's death. I worked jobs for him. I crashed on the giant couch occasionally. He'd tossed a meal my way when he saw that I had nothing. I'd listened and learned from him and I wasn't always a complete idiot.

"No trail, Colt. I swear," I said through a smushed face. "And no tail either. We're clean. Come on, you don't think I'd lead an Imperial gang right to your front door, do you? Give me a little credit."

He thought about that one and finally released my face. I rubbed my reddened jaw as he grabbed a small blue band from his desk and tied his hair back. "You're right. You're not a total idiot _all_ of the time, just some of it. And I do trust you to cover your tracks. Otherwise, you'd have been dead long ago. Runners don't live long if they can be followed, right? Anyway, that kid is a problem."

Couldn't argue there, but, "It's not his fault, Colt. And I couldn't leave him to rot and die, and I can't leave him on his own right now. Someone has to look after him. You did that for me." He had, as I said before. When I'd said I'd been on my own these past almost-two years, I'd meant it, but that didn't mean I refused a little help from someone I mostly trusted. "I'm old enough to pay it forward."

"True, but you can't stay in Kaolin. You need to disappear for a while."

"I know that, but I don't know where we can go. I have a life here, a job, income to live on. Now I'm supporting two. I can't give up running, it's all I know."

A long pause before Colton decided, "All right. I can help you, _but_ I need to think about this. You can stay the night, or what's left of it. Go get the kid set up in the front guest bedroom. You've crashed there before, he'll be comfortable. We'll figure the rest out once the sun comes up. Go on, Dash. He's your tag-a-long, not mine. Take care of him."

So I did. As usual, Tannerlin was quiet. Nervous. Scared. All easy emotions to see. Especially on a child. Too much chaos happening around him, what with people trying to kill him, running for his life, hiding in holes, roaming through tunnels, seeing the galaxy's biggest couch…all that fun stuff. I motioned him towards the small bedroom and pushed him to sit on the mattress. He sat, but clung to his bag. The dark green bag, the one with his meager belongings, he had it clutched to his chest and it didn't get released from his grasp until I physically removed it. "Lie down, Tanner." He hesitated before climbing under the covers.

"But I'm all dirty."

"Wouldn't be the first time this bed had a dirt covered kid in it. It's okay, we're safe here. In the morning – well, in the real morning, there's a nice big tub you can take a hot bath in and get cleaned up. A big breakfast too. And we'll plan our next move. Get some sleep now. I'll be in the next room, just yell if you need me."

His head nodded that it was okay, but his mind didn't believe it. And there was something else…he caught me with it just before I left the room.

"Dashen?"

I returned to the bedside. "Yeah?"

"I'm going with you, right? Tomorrow?"

What kind of stupid question was…well, maybe not so stupid to think it from his point of view.

"I'm certainly not leaving you here. It's not safe in Kaolin for either of us.

"Because of me."

Oh good, now he's blaming himself for this? Sure, why not? Didn't I do the same when my parents died and then again with Kossi died? I'm sure I did, although the memories are a bit fuzzy – intentionally fuzzy. I couldn't have this kid doing the same. I'd done the blame thing, it didn't work then, and it wouldn't work now…and it actually upset me that he was trying to use it.

"No, Tanner, not because of you. None of this is any of your fault, and don't say it again, okay? You're a victim. And for some unknown reason, I was meant to help you. Maybe it's that Force thingy you guys cling to. Who knows, but understand that this is not in any way, shape or form, your fault. Got it?"

The 'okay' that slid from his lips was hushed and awkward as he chewed desperately on his bottom lip; and that was it for me. I have no idea what happened, but his frightened and soft response snapped my barely contained outpouring of stress-emoting in half and the moment I said my next words – with dagger like sharpness - I regretted every single one of them.

"You are fine, understand? You have to move past everything and move away from what you were and what you lost. Just…you just have to, okay? People die. Friends die. Family die. It's a fact of life. Crap happens. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and deal. The Jedi are gone. Dead. All of them. You can't stay in the past. You have to move on from the life you had before. You do it or you die. There's no other option."

Ahhhh, damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

The words came out too fast and to curt, and I couldn't take them back. But seeing my side of the situation - this whole parenting role I was on lately, it just wasn't me. I was still a kid myself! And when it came to non-family; not only non-family but a Jedi of all things…I wasn't ready for what this kid was bringing to my life.

And then I turned and left the room just as Tannerlin's Jedi control that he'd been fighting so hard to sustain, broke away. Like a river busting through a dam. And the next thing I knew I was being _dragged_ into the living area by my jacket collar and shoved forcefully onto the colossal couch. Colton stood over me, intense blue eyes glaring hard. Colton was menacing when he was angry. I've seen it before, too many times. This time though it appeared if he had the option of smacking my head against the wall and leaving me bloody and unconcious, he would have. Thankfully I was spared the violence. I got the well-deserved lecture instead.

"_Not_ your smoothest move ever, Dash. Everybody dies. Crap happens. Suck it up. Just get over it and move on, huh? I don't think those were words I ever uttered to you after your brother passed. A little more sympathy would have been a nice way to leave him instead of helping him fall apart completely. I mean, I know the kid is trouble with his baggage – hell, I called it as soon as you walked _unwelcomed_ into my house…not to mention the fact that he'll probably have to dodge blaster fire for the rest of his childhood, but come on. You're better than that. You of all people…are better than that." A pause as he turned and walked a few feet from me…pausing for dramatic effect…then the finish that I'd readied for. "I swear to the Gods that you are such an_ idiot_ at times! You really and truly are. I don't understand it! How can one person who has suffered so much loss in his own life, be such an idiot when it comes to this kid? How? Just…how? Not many things get me, Dash, but you…you boggle my mind."

Ouch. Not many people could make me feel like crap about myself. Colton could. I'd known him most of my life. My parents were, not friends of his, but they respected him enough to stay out of his way, but I was always the curious one and ran into him on purpose more than rarely. I was a stupid kid and he humored me. When my folks died, Colton offered advice, information and an occasional supportive shoulder to lean on, usually when I was being an idiot and he was aware of it. Colton was aware of everything that happened in and around this town and in neighboring towns. It's why I hadn't questioned him on how he knew about Tannerlin. No need. Virgil Colton had eyes and ears all over and very little got past him. During my brother's illness and after he'd died, I found myself turning more and more to Colton for advice and in the end, he'd hired me as a runner on a regular basis. He gave me enough to keep me busy and to keep me from jumping off a bridge and calling it a life. Colton helped make me into the runner that I had become – what he called, one of best around.

A runner by trade is essentially a lightweight criminal. Most of my usual jobs are moving items (and occasionally stealing them) and other things from town to town for specified individuals and in general lay under the radar since some of those 'other things' can get me fined or tossed in a cell for months to years. I've never asked a lot of questions of the clients that Colton would send me too – or even the clients that have hired me independently. I've never really wanted or needed to know the why's of it all. Just do the job and collect the payment. Keep questions to a minimum. Clients hate questions, especially the criminally minded clients. Since my time in training, so to speak, under Colton, I'd garnered a top reputation and prior to taking on Tannerlin, I was moving up in the unofficial ranks of runners and finding a great deal of self-governing work outside of Colton's supervision. The best runners make the best money. Pretty simple math, right?

But since the kid…I'd been stagnant and had to cancel most of my jobs. No runs, no money. Seems the stress of it all, the money and the kid (his physical and then emotional recovery), the flashbacks of my dying brother (which included reoccurring nightmares), oh and the whole scurrying for my life bit, had finally collapsed inward. I hadn't meant to be harsh with Tanner, (he was a good kid and had been through hell) but it'd happened, and I regretted it. Leaving him as I did and with words much too knife-like for someone in his mental state, I'd been flat-out wrong. I really had been the idiot that Colton often accused me of being. And he wasn't about to let me off the hook. And for that, I was grateful.

The big man eventually turned back to me and lashed me down even further. It was okay. I'd earned it.

"You know how you felt when you lost your brother? Torn and broken? Well this…and don't take this as an insult to what you lost and what you went through, but take those feelings and multiply it by twenty. I don't give a damn about how you feel or felt about the Jedi. That kid you've been dragging around… his entire world is gone. Friends, family, home, everything he knew…completely wiped from the galaxy. Then you, the only person around who actually gives a crap about him, talks him down then walks out on him as he crashes and burns. The kid is nine years old, you idiot. Nine! As much as I hate that you brought him here, putting my place and operation at risk, and I've still not a damn clue why you seem to have adopted him in the first place - he's still a nine year old boy. And, if you've taken the time to notice, problem or not, the kid is sane and vertical most of the time, right?" I nodded. "That says something about him. He's pretty determined for someone his age, but you've got to allow him his emotional collapses – but _without_ causing them. Remember, I did with you."

He had. And I remember too well all that I felt after Kossi died; a horrible mix of aloneness, heartbreak, guilt, anger and everything else that filled my head. Nights were most difficult because I had too much time to think and on the worst of those nights (to help keep myself from actually jumping off that bridge), I'd come pounding on Colton's door. Usually he had to excuse himself from the ladies, like he'd done this evening (the man is popular, what can I say?) But not once did he ever turn me away and not once did he ever get frustrated with me for being an emotional, confused wreck. He was there because I needed someone to be and there wasn't another sole on the planet that gave half a crap.

Probably exactly like Tannerlin feels now.

And now…and now I really _did _feel worse than terrible. Damn it!

Colton saw the realization on my face as he relaxed his posture and gave me a winked smile; his tone softer. "For some reason, you felt the need to save this kid when you could have just put him out of his misery and saved him a lot of heartache. Gods know why you did it, but you did. You don't strand him now, Dash."

I breathed out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I get it. I understand."

"Good," he said as he stepped forward and mussed up my already mussed-up hair. Even idiots need affection sometimes. "Now, go make sure he's okay then go to sleep. Please! Before the damn sun comes up. You already ruined my night; I can't have you ruining my morning too."

Hoping not to see what I was about to see, there it was. Tannerlin was curled in his bed, tangled in the blankets and sobbing very softly into his overstuffed pillow. Yup, just rub it on in. Make me feel even worse. I deserved it, but still. Not quite sure how my life had changed so much in a matter of a month, but…here it was. And it was time to get over the guilt and live up to my end of the bargain. I _had_ saved the kid and Colton was right, I couldn't leave him standing alone after all that had happened. He truly had lost everything he'd ever known and he was now was being dragged around on a strange planet being pushed in whatever direction I sent him. He didn't know me, not like he knew his Jedi family, but he kept trusting me. Most of the time I didn't even trust myself, so I'm not entirely sure how this kid was able do it. I guess in the end all that really mattered was that he did trust, the reasons why, were not so significant. I just hoped that I could live up to that trust.

I knelt down next to the bed and touched one of the hands that was busy strangling the life out of the pillow. "Tannerlin." The hand pulled away and reached to his face to smear a few tears across his dirty cheek. His light brown eyes floated in seas of red as he looked at me. "Hey, Mouse. Hi. I'm…I'm sorry for snapping at you. I didn't mean it. The stress of everything got to me and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I'm sorry for those things I said."

His head scuffed back and forth on the pillow in a 'no' motion and he didn't scowl at the nickname as he said, "This all really happened, didn't it? All my friends…my family, they're all gone. I can't even go home anymore – to my real home." Stopping long enough to smear more wetness across his face, he finished with a tearful and broken, "I…I miss Master Ayden. I really, really miss him."

I almost…_almost_ got up and walked away again. That's how distressed he sounded and it made me want to run away and not deal with it. Then I glanced over my shoulder, feeling a shadow in the doorway. Colton was there, either in support or to grab the scruff of my neck if I did try and escape again. Whichever it was, it was effective. I stayed put and tried not to become an emotional ruin.

"I know you miss him." I was going to say more, about my past, about my brother, but at this rate, I'd end up bawling next to him and it was enough that one of us was a wreck. Someone in his duo had to hold it together for the other.

So I didn't say anything else. Instead I pulled the nearby chair over to the bedside and sat, tucking Tannerlin's smaller hand into my own and staying until his hitching breaths stopped and he planted himself into a deep sleep. That was another hour gone and it would be light soon. I didn't figure to try and sleep. What was the point?

Okay, so the point wasn't mine to make and when I came out of the bedroom, Colton was there motioning toward the couch. On one end (remember this couch reached to Hoth and back, so that end was pretty far away) was a blanket and pillow. I pursed my lips together and contemplated the couch for a very brief moment until I was shoved in that direction.

"Lie down and sleep. And if you don't, I _will_ knock you out. I've done it before." He had, twice actually. "I won't hesitate to do it again. So lie down, shut up and go to sleep." Wait for the finale…"You damned idiot." Perfect!

I slept and then woke long after the rest of the house was well into their day. Mid- afternoon by the position of the sun that was currently blasting through the eighteen skylights above me. A little overkill on the natural light, but it made for a warm wake up. I stumbled around the house until I found my sea legs and until I found my housemates. Tannerlin was sitting in the planet-sized kitchen looking like very tiny against the massive breakfast bar – the massive bar that was designed to seat a small army. Colton appeared to be making sandwiches. Secretly I hoped for that crazy good sandwich he used to make for me on occasion. I had no idea what was on it and probably was better off not knowing, but it was a meal to kill for. Colton might be a criminal, but the man could create some food.

The big man didn't turn toward me as he spoke, already knowing I was there. He'd heard my socked feet padding across the wooden floor. I hadn't heard my own feet, but Colton didn't get to this point in his life – without having gone to prison – by not knowing when some would-be sock-killer was sneaking towards him. "Sit down, Dash. No questions. You know I hate questions about my cooking, so don't even think about starting."

I pulled up a stool next to Tanner and nudged his shoulder. "Hi. Okay?"

He nodded and smiled at me, looking ten times brighter than last night. A good emotional release wasn't always a bad thing. I'd discovered that a bit less than two years ago. "Mr. Colton made me giant eggs this morning for breakfast with giant bacon. I had seconds!"

Seems his appetite had come alive since last night as well. Or it was a slam on my cooking, which was, well…let's be totally honest. My cooking sucked eggs. Yup, my cooking lacked…a lot. Taste being tops on that list. Eh, didn't matter. What did matter is that Tanner had just committed a cardinal sin, and I was about to call him on it when my head suddenly bumped forward thanks to a whack from behind.

"Ouch! Damn it, Colt!"

Another whap.

"Watch your mouth around the kid and why didn't you tell him?"

"I've been a little short on time to remember every little specific weirdo detail of your life, you know.

"Tough. Tell him now."

I sighed and turned to Tanner and repeated – with absolutely zero energy or enthusiasm behind it - the stupid axiom that had been force fed into my brain during my first few meetings with Colton. "One will never refer to Virgil Colton as Mister. One will never refer to Virgil Colton as Virgil. One will never refer to Virgil Colton as Sir. You will refer to him only as Colt or Colton or you'll have a lump on the back of your head the size of a bantha dropping for the next week. Thank you." There. Done. Joy.

I partially expected Tanner to shrink down into his chair, cowering for the mistake he'd made – which he hadn't know about of course. But he didn't. Instead he was grinning and giggling. Giggling? Do Jedi giggle? This one did. And he was smiling because Colt was smiling at me, thankfully sparing me a third smack to the head.

"Very good, Dash. Oh and by the way, kid, it took him about five years before he actually caught on. That's how he earned his nickname."

Idiot.

To be fair, it was five years sure, but when my parents were alive they didn't allow me to visit much, him being a criminal and all, but yeah, I got swatted a lot. And I certainly had earned that nickname.

Plates were set in front of us and now it was my turn to smile. My favorite – whatever it was (he never would tell me) – and I wasted no time in devouring my entire sandwich in several large mouthfuls. Perhaps I should have been embarrassed when a second sandwich landed on my plate, but I wasn't. It hadn't taken Colton long to figure me out when I was younger. I could eat like a Wookie could grow fur. And these things – these crazy-bad-for-you-taste-so-good sandwiches – these things I could eat until I exploded. Bad way to die, I know, but if I died, at least I'd die happy and content.

He joined the two of us as I started on the second half of my second sandwich.

"So, the kid here told me about himself. I like him, Dash. Do me a favor and don't get him killed. Yourself either. Now, we have to plans to discuss. New town, new home. You're one the best runners out there and I know I can trust you not to skim when you run for me even if you work from another town, so you name where you want to go and I'll get you set up with new clients. If I might make a few suggestions, I would stay out of Argil and Bole. Too much international traffic there and they both house large space ports. Good for business, but if you're dead, business doesn't mean a damn thing. You want some place smaller, but not too small. There should be some tourist traffic and far enough away from here to be safe from anyone recognizing you. I've narrowed it down to three towns." He punched up his large wall-mounted holo monitor. Yes, he had one in the kitchen. He had one in almost every room in the house. This one was the size of a Starcruiser. The three towns marked with red dots were displayed. "Cinder. Loam. Firma."

I spit out my first thought. "Loam." I'd been there. I liked it.

"No."

"Ah, uh…what?"

"Pick another one."

"But you narrowed it down and gave me the option and said to pick…are you playing with my mind? You _know_ it's all stressed, it can't handle games right now."

"Not a game. Loam is…well, I've lost some business there recently. Vargus has expanded his reach and I may just back off and let him have it."

"Okay, Firma."

"No."

"Damn it, Colt! Stop it! Why not?"

"Too much construction right now, not enough work. Pick again."

"I guess its Cinder then."

"Perfect. You can leave this evening. I have a nice base set up there. Not as expansive as this one, but comfy. You'd be on your own for housing, although I'll get you started with some rent money until you get set with decent employment. Lots of money there, you won't have trouble finding jobs even without my help. Some of them are a little, well, on the uneven side so be wary. Don't get caught moving some of that stuff or even I won't be able to help you get out of the jam."

Tannerlin wanted to question what exactly Colton meant by 'uneven' but I indicated to him that we'd talk about it later. I looked closer at Cinder on the map. It was a hike and we had no transportation. "Can you get us a ride? We can't walk that, not this time of year. Or any time of the year really. Would take us week."

"You're not walking there, you idiot. You'd get eaten by something stupid your first night in the forest. One of my drivers will take you. Wake up the brain, Dash. You are the leader of this little two man outfit, right? Come on, follow me." We followed to his office where he presented us each with a heavy duty packing bag and backpack. "Those bags the two of you came in with are one thread shy of junk yard material. Take these. There are two changes of clothes for each of you in the packing bag, just in case you can't figure out how to find a clothes store in Cinder. Tannerlin, unlike what _he's _found for you, the clothes in this bag will actually fit you."

I had to take offense at that. "Come on! The clothes he has on now fit…sorta." Don't dare ask how Colt knew what size we were or when he had time to get these clothes during the short time we'd been here. He is who he is and I gave up asking those types of questions long ago.

"Depends on what your definition of 'fit' actually is. Mine is accurate. Yours is well, never mind. No more clothes dealers, okay? The kid looks like a street orphan. Go to actual stores. They are there for a reason. Use them, shop in them. Oh and it gets cold in Cinder since it's near the sea, so keep that in mind when you work longer jobs, Dash. Cinder is a big place and its nearby towns are a trek on foot, so you may have to do a little overnight camping in the woods during the course of a run. You do remember how to get a fire started, yes?"

"I'll make sure I have an igniter on me, right?"

"The stones, you idiot, the stones. This is a bad idea. Maybe I should make the kid the leader of the group."

The stones! Oh, yeah. How'd I forget that? "I got it. Flare stones. Scrape them together until they spark, then set them to light brush to get the fire started. I'm still taking an igniter though." Flare stones were small rocks that weighed nothing and there was little chance that I'd blow my face up when using them, as opposed to the igniter with which I'd had several accidents (an did almost blow my face up), but I was stubborn.

Colton rolled his eyes at me before nodding towards the boy. Tanner yawned. Nine year old boys weren't supposed to look so fatigued and ragged in the middle of the afternoon, were they? I nudged him. "You should get some sleep before we go. Go on. I'll wake you." With a nod, he wandered away and I took our bags into the living area. Colton followed.

"He's a good kid, Dash. Heartbroken, but good. You two will make a solid team."

I sat on the couch across from him. "I don't think so. He's not really sold on what I do. That politically-correct Jedi training of his doesn't sit well with me carrying illegal contraband from point A to point B."

Colton shrugged. "He'll get used to it and in the end, it doesn't matter all that much. It's a living and right now he doesn't have anything else. My best advice once you get to Cinder is to keep your head down and don't attract any unwanted attention. Figure out your 'story' ahead of time. I'd go with big brother-little brother thing."

"Yes, because we look so very much alike. That whole black hair-green eyes/brown hair-brown eyes connection thing, right? Whatever, Colt, no one is going to believe we're related."

"Use your brain and be inventive. Just keep the story simple and lacking in details."

Lacking in details I could do. I'd just forget most of them anyway.

I let an hour slide by before I went to wake the kid. Turns out that I couldn't bring myself to do it though, he was out cold and at peace with his dreams for once. I'd have to con Colt into letting us stay one more night.

"You really are trying to ruin my reputation, aren't you?"

"Come on, Colt, your Playboy rep will survive two entire nights. Like keeping your shirt on is such a difficult thing? The ladies will understand. As you told me, have a little sympathy." The deep-chested sigh and the cock-eyed stare he offered was him giving in. I didn't often claim victory over Virgil Colton, but there was a first time for everything. "I swear we will be out of your chest-hair tomorrow morning."

I ran, knowing full well a couch pillow was being bulls-eyed at my head. It missed, but I laughed anyway.

Morning brought rain. Lots of it. But the weather made no difference. We were soon to be on our way to our new home. Or…so I thought.

Colton found me just as I was setting our bags near the front door. Picking the bags up after I'd set them down, he deposited them on the gigantic couch. "Change of plans. Cinder just became the Terra base for the Empire. Evidently they are setting up shop on just about every planet. So, you won't be going there or anywhere right now. As much as I hate to say this, guess what that means? The upstairs apartment? Home sweet home, Dashen, my boy."

I was stunned. "Uh…what?" Yeah, wordsmith's got nothing on me. Colton pounded me on the shoulder…three times. Complete with dramatic pauses and everything.

"You." Pound! "Stay." Pound! "Here." Pound!

"Um…okay?"

So, I deserved the whack on the head I got that time. It shook me out of my daze though.

"It's not safe out there. Not right now at least. Things need to settle. This whole Jedi business needs to calm. And the boy needs to look less like a wannabe-victim with a target on his head. Cinder had been quiet for a long time. I got wind of something a few hours ago and had my people check it out. I suppose its quietness is why the Emperor has claimed a stake there. Change of plans all around. You'll work directly for me for now – although you can pull a couple of your old clients in if the money is right - and I'll keep you as away from Cinder and surrounding towns as I can. You two will live upstairs. The apartment is clean. My father lived there during his last few years, you remember."

I did, although I'd only ever been up there once. It wasn't huge, but was still bigger than the flat we were coming from. Two small bedrooms, a bathroom, a decent kitchen and a medium-sized lounge room. Tanner would get his own bedroom. An actual room and an actual bed! The apartment also had an inside and outside access. The outside entrance being helpful of course so that we didn't disturb Colton when he and his ladies…oh, never mind. It gave him his privacy, okay?

"Figure out when you want to work the first job. Let me know. And figure out what you'll be doing with the kid. If he doesn't want to learn the job, that's fine, but you can't just leave him here alone all day."

That was true. But things were moving so fast at the moment I couldn't think…oh wait a second. School? Yes! That was it! Tanner wanted to go to school. That much I knew. He wanted to be a teacher eventually…just like his master was. Keep the legacy alive and all that stuff. That part though would have to wait as teachers on Terra were required to be at least 20 years old with specified and targeted classes under their belts before they could take on students of their own. He had a ways to go. But, it was a good place to start.

"School. I need to enroll him somewhere."

"It has to be private and small for now. Otherwise, he'll draw attention until he fits in better and is emotionally stable."

I sighed. Yeah, private, sure. That wouldn't cost me my entire life savings…if I had a life savings. "Colt, you know I can't pull that. I have enough money to buy us dinner and that's it. Okay, how about a tutor for now? That might work."

"No, the kid needs to be around people other than you and me. I'm a master criminal and you are a wanna-be part-time thief with brother issues. How's that for influence? Just find him a school. I'll foot the bill for now." My mouth fell open. "Don't worry, I'll take it out of your hide eventually."

He would too. But at least I'd live through it. Now, where was the kid anyway?

"Dashen?"

As if on cue, he came up behind me.

"I'm ready!"

He looked so clean and neat and even happy. He'd gotten his hopes up for the new home and new life in Cinder…ah, bubble bursting time!

"You're awfully fancied up for the long journey up the stairs and to the right, aren't you?"

"Uh, what?"

"Kid sounds like you, Dash," Colton cut in, "you teaching him your abbreviated sentences of stupid?"

"Funny, Colt. Tanner, follow me."

He did. The little mouse would follow me anywhere. Me and my shadow, right? I still didn't know how it was possible for him to trust me so quickly (barely a month now) and so easily. Of course, the pressure was on me with this…I couldn't let him down.

We traversed the stairs after I'd grabbed our travel bags. Inside the apartment, I walked into the smaller bedroom and tossed his bag on the bed. "Welcome home, Mouse."

"Home? I thought…but…Cinder?"

"Well, Ole Palpy has set down roots there in the last twelve hours. Cranky old man and his minions. And I told you, Colton has eyes everywhere and all the time. Long story short…we're taking up residence here until further notice. Your room is here. My room is across the hall. Lounge, kitchen, bath – with a tub, you'll love that. Not too bad, huh?"

Not sure I really knew what to expect reaction-wise from the kid. He was the quiet type and seemed to go along with whatever. I have to say though, seeing him a little disappointed was a bit tough. That's how invested I guess I'd become in Tanner's life and his future – I truly gave a crap that he was even the tiniest bit upset at our change of plans.

I was such a sucker.

I put an arm around his shoulders and squeezed. "Sorry, kid. We don't really have another option right now. Not if you want to live to see your tenth birthday. You have a target on your back the size of an imperial cruiser until you look and act less like what you are. It's tough to change, I know. I mean it hasn't been all that long since…" I left the sentence hanging. He knew where I was going and smiled sadly. "It's all right to be disappointed though."

The small shoulders shrugged under the light weight of my arm. "I was looking forward to Cinder. I was reading about it a little while ago and it sounded really nice and near the sea. But it's not safe there now, and you're just trying to keep me safe. I know that. This isn't so bad. I like Colton. He's funny. And you like him too. Maybe this is a sign that we need him right now."

A sign? I hoped Jedi-boy wasn't going all Force-y on me. "Maybe. Or maybe…maybe crap just happens. Right?"

The young face broke out into a genuine smile. "Yeah, maybe that too."

"So we're good, yeah? Good. I'll be working for Colton and you'll be going to school. If you want to be a teacher one day, you've got to start somewhere. How's that for the immediate future?"

He nodded approvingly. "I like it." Then he glanced around his new room, opened his bag and took out the few trinkets that meant something to him. His master's lightsaber, and his own. And old worn book. The woven braid that locked the hair of he and his Jedi teacher together in life. A small brown piece of the same man's robe. Tanner had asked me to rip a piece off before we left that death-filled basement.

His past, pulled out of a bag, and each piece set carefully in its place.

It's similar to something I had done after Kossi had died. I carried memories with me in a small knapsack and once I'd found a place to call home, those simple things helped me to deal with each painful day. They were just things…but each had a memory attached. Watching Tannerlin handle each item so carefully, I asked him the obvious, "A memory for each?"

With his back to me, he shrugged. The last article he set in place held his attention longer than the others and he lingered a finger on it. I stepped closer, trying not to intrude, but curious at the same time. Was this a Jedi custom or just a remembrance hitting harder than the others?

I saw what it was. A piece of wood-stone; a small rock that looked like a petrified chunk of wood. I'd seen him with it often, rubbing his thumb across its smooth surface at times, especially during the first couple weeks of his recovery when he cried himself to sleep at night and then woke up screaming with nightmares. I wondered why this small, plain brown stone was so important. I couldn't begin to know for sure, but when he turned to me and set it in my hand, I felt something. Cold at first touch and then warm. Warm and strange at the same time. Tanner wrapped my fingers around it and it warmed even more. Glow stones were one thing, but stones that could warm immediately just by touching them?

"What is it?"

"It carries the Force around it. My master told me the story once. I can't remember all the smaller details, but it belonged to his brother. Master Ayden's brother – an older brother, Airic- was a Jedi too. They were taken by the Jedi at the same time. They grew up together in the Temple. When the day came that they were chosen by masters and would begin working without each other, Airic gave Master Ayden this stone. Master Ayden kept it with him always, except for that day the clone troopers came and trapped us in that basement. Right before he pushed me into the hole in the wall, he pressed the wood-stone into my palm and it warmed. It warms when it finds where it wants to be. It's why I hold it when I get upset. It brings me comfort. Master Ayden loved his brother more than anything. And that he would give it to me before he died…"

I leaned my head back and blinked my eyes wide to keep the water in. Damn that kid, making me an emotional mess in these last weeks. Then I pressed the stone back into his hand. I knew what he was doing and I couldn't allow it.

"No, Dash, I want you to have it."

"I can't, Tanner. Come on."

"It's for brothers."

So much for keeping the water in. I wiped it away quickly though. Had it really come to this? Had I lost one brother only to gain another? That wasn't possible, was it? I sighed…and sniffed back another threatening round of waterworks. How could I refuse the stone now, after that? This hurt my head…and my heart.

The kid didn't say anything else as he held his palm out. Life didn't prepare me for these types of situations and decisions. I could outsmart local security and outrun any thief around, but I couldn't take a rock out of the hand of a nine year old boy.

Tanner took care of it for me. Again he set the stone in my palm and wrapped my fingers around it. And again the cold melted to warm. This time I held tight. As much as I wanted to, I didn't give it back. Tanner didn't want it back. As one brother passed it to another long ago, another was passing it to his brother now. As unlikely as it seemed, we were brothers. We weren't related by blood. We were different in countless ways. He was a Jedi. I was a thief (well, a partial thief). But yet we needed each other…like brothers did.

"I'll keep it with me always, Tanner. I promise. Thank you."

He cried then; too much in such a short time for such a young boy. Jedi or not, he was human and he hurt - in his heart, more than anything.

Although I hadn't received the same after my parents and Kossi died, I offered the only thing a brother could at this moment. I wrapped him in a hug so tight and held him there until the worst was done.

This was us. What a pair, huh? Add Colton to the mix and we were like the odd couple and the weird uncle. I could only imagine the trouble we were bound to get into together.

A month ago, life was pretty damn crappy.

Today, life was changing.

And with a newly found brother to look after, annoy and aggravate, that crappy life was looking pretty damn good now.

* * *

_**The End/The Beginning (and the story of Dash and Tanner will continue…)**_


	2. Of Mice and Memories

**Chapter Title:** Of Mice and Memories

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Tannerlin (15 years old)

**Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Chapter Summary:** Tanner flashes back 6 years to when his life changed forever.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi) and Virgil Colton

* * *

"Would you please stop calling me Mouse!"

"Sorry, kid. Can't. Habit. Hey, don't expect me home tonight, okay?"

I rolled my eyes at the data screen – towards my brother on the other end. Well, technically we weren't related – but in every way other than blood, he _was_ my brother. As in the true nature of big brothers, Dashen was an expert at being annoying even when not physically there.

_Mouse_. It'd gotten the nickname the day he'd found and rescued me six years ago. I was this small, skinny kid with brown hair and brown eyes who didn't talk much or make much noise – and I guess I reminded him of a rodent – funny, huh? I didn't really care then. I wasn't in my right mind. But now…well, now it was just Dash being Dash and doing his best to irritate me. Most of the time it worked, but this time I decided to let it go, and after I got past the nametag I rolled my eyes again…just because.

"Another hot date with Jayla?"

"You can tag along with us to dinner if you'd like. She has _many_ friends."

"Thanks, but no thanks. They're all yours."

"I'm not Colton, Tanner. I am me -a one woman guy. I don't need a herd. But you're sure? It's never too late to change your ways, you know."

By 'change my ways', he meant becoming interested in the whole dating thing. And that was still a no for me. Teenage boy or not, I still held tight to my Jedi ways. Despite the slaughter of the entire Order six years ago, I still found comfort in the way I was raised and in the devotion to the Jedi. It had been my life, my every second and every breath until I was nine years old. Of course only Colton and Dash knew my true background – there still being an active Jedi bounty out there for any of us still alive - so I couldn't go around shouting my beliefs around the city, but I held them close and managed or at least tried to live by most of them. Maybe one day, I'd let go of that particular side of me and allow an intimate relationship with someone my age, but Sith's hell, I was fifteen! Even if Dash's version of normal was my normal, what was the rush? I was happy and content with who I was…despite my brother's ragging.

"Whatever, Dash. You have fun with Jayla. Tell her I said hello."

"Oh, hey, one more thing. I need you to make a run for me tomorrow. I won't be home until late, but forgot about a job I'd promised Ole Grumpy Gershek. You don't have classes tomorrow, and don't worry it's nothing illegal, just a simple movement of jewels from his place to his cousin in Loma. They don't want the rest of the family to know – someone died and left expensive crap to one but not to the other and this and that. You know how that works. Family pains."

I snorted. "Yeah, I know all about family pains."

"You'll take care of it then for me?"

"Dash, you know I hate running." I did. Hated it with a passion actually. Didn't mean I wasn't good at it though, especially with a little push here and there from the Force. Still…it was too sneaky and illegal and criminal-like for me. This specific job sounded okay – legit – as Dash would say – but the job was never me. For Dashen though… I mean, he'd practically raised me from the time he'd rescued me – we'd gone from complete strangers to inseparable brothers since that time. Part of me knew I would forever be in his debt for what he did. Of course, I'd never tell him that, and we were still drastically dissimilar people and well, he wasn't me. As much as I loved my brother, we were quite different in a lot of ways. What we had worked, because we made it work, but we clashed on occasion too.

No clashing this time, I took the job, but still hated it.

"Fine, I'll do it. You owe me though."

"Anything, Mouse. You name it."

"How about you stop calling me Mouse?"

"How about no?"

I shook my head at him as he gave me the details of the run. I committed it to memory and readied to sign off.

"I'll see you…whenever then?"

"A day or two. Behave yourself, little brother." His green eyes laughed at me. "Later, Mouse!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I clicked off the data screen and set it on the table. I was tired. Too tired for my age. Bad dreams this week. Not sure why. Something had triggered it I guess, although I couldn't pinpoint what – my brain just not having that type of energy at the moment. I did know that this week I'd been remembering _that_ day a lot. Six years ago when I was nine and in the basement of that…place…and Master Ayden shoved me into a hole in the wall, used the Force against me and told me to STAY, no matter what happened. _"Don't let me down, Tannerlin,"_ he'd said. _"Please, Padawan."_ He'd begged. My master never begged. _"This is serious. Call on all your training to stay put. I know you won't let me down. And if something happens…someone will come for you. I know they will. I know it. Trust in the Force."_

Foolishly, I didn't realize it at the time, but he'd been saying goodbye to me. Death was imminent and he knew it. And in part of giving himself up, he was allowing me to survive.

Through the tiniest of peepholes, I'd watched him die over the span of days –he

and the other four in the landing party. Funny thing, I couldn't remember their names anymore. I could see faces and familiarity, but names escaped me. The details of Master Ayden's death however became sharper and more focused each time I'd dreamt it, this week especially. Most prevalent in recent days were those last few minutes before he'd died…with several clone troopers still guarded over them…my master's bloodied head fell to the side and his bruised eyes opened just enough to see the exact spot he'd forced me to hide. He could see me then, I knew he could, even through that insignificant peephole. I'd sent a tendril of the Force toward him - our bond - and in that final moment, I had tried to tell him that it was okay to let go -that I loved him and that I promised to be okay and would see him again one day.

I think he understood because his eyes closed then and he whispered away a last breath as his spirit left his physical body and passed into the Force.

And that had been that. Dashen found me ten days later; half dead from lack of food and water, in shock from trauma, and heartbroken that I'd just lost everything I'd ever known.

That was six years ago…almost to the day. And…and now I'd figured it out – there was my trigger. The date has snuck up on me. It was why these memories were coming again and so strongly. Anniversary dates aren't always celebratory. Some are wracked with pain and bad memories. Some are long running nightmares. Some just make you feel like a lost little boy again in need of someone to wrap their arms around you and tell you everything would be all right.

I flopped backwards onto the couch. The door chime sounded. It could only be one person other than Dashen, so I motioned a hand towards the keypad and used the Force to activate the lock code. I'd been teaching myself in Force exercises in these past few years. I owed it to my master to try and continue what he'd taught me. It was difficult and I didn't understand a lot of it without the wisdom of years of experience behind it, but slowly it came. Something as simple as using the Force to unlock the door took me a long months to master on my own, but even small successes were successes, right?

The door slid open and Virgil Colton came in. He was a combination, boss, fake uncle, ladies man, protector and landlord. Oh and master criminal (it's how he'd made his fortune). He was tall, broad, blonde and blue-eyed. Like one of those male models that populate those trendy romance holo novel covers. On one hand, women threw themselves at him and on the other hand, he had eyes and ears in every corner of every part of this planet. Some of those eyes and ears were probably some of those same women who threw themselves at him. Using the ladies as his spies? I put nothing past him. He was a good guy though and he cared about me and Dash – or he'd have kicked us out a long time ago. We lived in the apartment that covered a portion of the top floor of his planet-sized mansion.

"Hey ya, kid." _Kid_. I could handle kid. Thankfully, he never called me Mouse.

I didn't lift my head but I did return the greeting. "Hi, Colton."

"Everything okay?"

I shrugged. "I'll live."

"Dash just called me. Said you sounded a little off. Wanted to make sure you were good."

The out of control bangs of my light brown shoulder length hair, fell forward as I sat up. I pushed the strands to the side. "Nightmares again. Just a bit more intense this time." He knew I suffered from them, but I never really went into detail with Colton about things like that. I felt more comfortable just spilling my emotional beans with one person – Dashen – and leaving it at that. But Colton always knew everything, so it didn't surprise me that he knew more of the particulars about my nightmares than I would have thought.

"The years pass and the dreams get more detailed now, don't they?"

Although I didn't look at him – not knowing how he knew what he knew – I didn't _disagree_ with his statement and offered a slight nod. But then…then he said something that truly surprised me.

"Been there, done that, kid. Still live with it. It gets easier, but it never goes away."

I stumbled. "W-what?"

"I guess I never told you that story, huh?" The cushion next to me sagged. "Yeah well, my past is my past and I like to keep it that way. The less people know about me, the less chance they can screw up my life…or find ways to kill me. So, you want the short version or long? Eh, never mind. Listen, why do you think I gave a crap about Dashen way back when after his parents and brother died?"

His parents had died when Dash was eleven. His brother, when Dash was thirteen.

"I guess I never thought about it."

"Any why would you? As I said - been there done that. You, me, Dash? Same crap, different year. I had a family once. Parents and two sisters. I was fifteen when my sisters and mother died in a passenger ship explosion. My father survived but suffered massive injuries, and was never the same or able to live under his own power. He spent most of his days after that in a rehab home. The money he'd tucked away paid for it barely. I had to figure out life for myself after he got hurt. Found out it was hard as hell surviving completely on your own at that age. Lost and alone. I knew what Dash felt when he lost that last piece of him – his brother. It's why I stepped in and offered him a place to crash now and then and tried to keep at least a partial eye on him. It's why he pulled your skinny butt out of that wall six years ago and looked after you. We're all different…but we're all the same."

I really didn't know what to say. That he'd lost family so young was the furthest idea from my mind when it came to Colton's past. It didn't really explain how he'd become a master criminal after the fact, but I figured that was a story for another day – or never at all. I didn't ask him about that, but I did ask him something else.

"Do the dreams ever stop? I mean the really bad ones?"

"Stop? No. Not completely. But they lessen and they get easier."

A strange sigh of relief crept out of me as I flopped back onto the couch again.

"Dash told me about the job tomorrow. Sounds simple enough, but you need rest." He reached over and patted me on my knee. "Sleep tonight, kid. It'll help."

I did sleep. Not sound and deep, but improved from the previous few nights. And when Dashen did finally make it home the next evening, I greeted him with a surprise hug. No explanation and it was fun to see him so confused. After I released him, I then proceeded to whack him in the back of the head for sending me on that run. It'd been quite the adventurous escapade and I have a pretty solid idea that he knew its potential ahead of time and had conned himself out of it on purpose. Or perhaps he could see that I needed to re-center my focus to something other than nightmarish memories. My brother could be quite the sneaky snake at times. It was okay though. He accepted the hug and the whack as just me being me…six years after a massive single event changed my life…and his, forever.

* * *

The End


	3. Being Stupid

**Chapter Title:** Being Stupid

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Dashen (Tannerlin is 18, Dashen is 24)

**Series Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Chapter Summary:** The brothers have a falling out over Tanner's commitment to staying true to the ways of the Jedi.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi and Tannerlin Vai (Jedi).

* * *

"Tanner, you're an idiot!"

"No, that's your forte, Dash. I simply did what the job asked for. It's not my fault the bottom fell out. Literally."

"It didn't ask to be blown up!"

"Then you should've told me that. For what other reason would we bring explosives?"

"As a precaution."

"Precaution for what? Just in case we happen to needed a building to fall on top of us? Look, Dash, how many times must I tell you that I hate this job? If I hadn't been so worried that you'd get sucked into Jayla's hormonious trap again and to something magnificently stupid, I'd have let you go this run alone."

"Hormonious? You know that's not a word."

"When you learn to keep your hormones in check, I will cease using it. Until then, it's a word."

"Well, I didn't fall for it…or her…this time. Okay?"

"This time; thanks to me. I could see her set up a mile away. And that was before the explosion! It's how your insight improves when it comes to women, if you don't have to worry about your hormones being ramped up all the time."

"Look, little brother, because you choose to keep your Jedi morals and codes and all that other crap and stay out of relationships with women, is not my fault. That's your issue and your loss and your problem and I don't think…"

"It's not a loss or a problem and it's _not_ crap. It's my life and it's choose I want to live it, so don't start on me about drooling after women, especially ones who constantly try to lure you into traps and routinely use you to cross your boss."

"I didn't fall for…oh never mind. Damn it!"

I stopped shouting then. It wasn't like me to_ not_ continue an argument, but the look on my brother's face sort of told me that I'd hit a nerve I had previously promised to stay away from. Tannerlin Vai was eighteen with a slim build, great hair and killer pale brown eyes that ladies his age would drool after. Some already had. Not to mention he was a straight up all around good person – a rare find these days. Nine years ago however, he'd made a decision. Despite the elimination of the entire Jedi Order, he'd decided to stay faithful to those ways - at least as faithful as possible in most areas. The opposite sex was one of those areas. I respected it, although I didn't understand or approve of it – being a guy. But he was determined to stay true. And for him, it hadn't been a problem. Of course, for all those girls who found him adorable, studly and all those other teenager things, it was whole different story. But, I had promised him that I wouldn't tease him or call him out on it and well, I'd just sliced up that promise into tiny little pieces right in front of his face. Might not seem like a big deal to any ordinary person, but to Tanner, it was huge. So huge in fact that he walked away from me…angry. Something he'd never done before.

"Tanner, come back here! Come on! I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. You know I have a hard time understanding all your weirdo Jedi ways."

He turned back to me. "Funny. I don't have trouble understanding your weirdo ways. It would seem after nine years, you'd have figured it out by now. All I ask is that you leave it alone. That's it. I don't ask much, Dash, I really don't. But…ah whatever. It doesn't matter anyway. You'll do what you do. Just…leave me alone for a while, okay?"

I did. And he stayed away. It took a lot to get Tanner angry, but I'd managed it well this time. We didn't speak much for the next several days. He attended his classes and teaching aid job. I had my planned runs on the schedule and a few that popped up last second. Things were strange between us though – truly strange for the first time since we'd known each other. It actually got to the point where I wondered if I'd scarred our relationship permanently. All these years removed from pulling a skinny terrified nine year old out of a basement of bloody terror and perhaps we'd hit a turning point that we couldn't detour away from.

On the fifth day of our falling out, I sat on the outside balcony of our upstairs apartment. In the distance, the last of the local livestock herds were being driven out of Kaolin and towards Loam or Vale or someplace to the east. An old fashioned way of doing things, but on this planet – on Terra - some of those old ways still held. And some of its citizens still held tight _to_ those ways. They were familiar and comfortable. Not unlike my brother and his dedication to an Order long dead.

I sipped at my drink; a cold root ale. Another thing Tanner didn't do -drink until his head exploded. He didn't drink at all really. Somehow I'd managed to never tease him about that one. It never bothered me either that he didn't indulge in that pleasure. Why it bothered me so much about the whole woman thing, I couldn't say. Maybe I was afraid that he'd never be truly happy without being able to share his life – his eventual golden years – with someone special to him. Maybe it was just me being a guy…or an idiot.

Either way, it bothered me and it shouldn't have. In truth, Tanner was the most at ease person I knew. More content than most who'd lived much simpler lives. But then there was this big brother of his who excelled in screwing things up. Yes sir, I continued with high-powered gusto to live up to my 'idiot' label – the one that Colton had so nobly bestowed on me when I was nothing but a foolish child.

Now it seemed I was nothing but a foolish adult.

Another drink of ale, and I put the bottle down, set my elbows on my knees and leaned my head heavily into my hands. And naturally, just because I am who I am, I felt the need to berate myself a bit. "Stupid, Dash. One day you'll learn from your screw ups. Stupid. Just so very stupid sometimes."

The familiar voice from behind startled me, but I didn't move. "Yes, you are that. Sometimes. But…" Tanner came and sat in the nearby empty chair. "Aren't we all guilty of that at just about any given point in our lives?"

My words were muffled through my hands when I replied, "Yes, but I tend to find more stupidity than most other twenty-four year olds, don't you think?"

I waited for the smart-ass reply. I mean, I'd left that one wide open for him. It never came. I peaked sideways at him through my fingers. Still waiting…Expecting.

"I'm sorry, Dash, for being so weird about what you said."

I was expecting…but I was not expecting an apology.

He continued. "I've made the choice to live the way I do, and I should be prepared for others to not understand and to jab me about it. It's life and that's how it works outside of protected temple walls."

My head lifted. He was right – to an extent. Those jabs though, they shouldn't come from your brother. And I told him as much. "You should expect it, but not from me, Mouse. You've reminded me countless times, right? And I'm just too pig headed to comprehend that you actually _mean_ it. I'm the sorry one; in more ways than one."

"If you want to be, go ahead, but I didn't have to carry it this long. So, I'm sorry, Dash."

"No, I should have apologized sooner. I'm the big brother, I should know better. I'm sorrier."

He was about to reply again when he froze in mid thought and said, "Now_ this_ is stupid. Battling over who is sorrier? I'm thinking that we're both pretty sorry."

"Yeah well, it's what brothers do. They get stupid and they fight."

Tanner smiled at me. It was a good smile. A contented smile. A smile that said we'd be okay. And what he said next only topped that off. "Yeah. I'm glad though. Glad that I have someone to get stupid with and to fight with. Sure beats the alternative."

…Of being alone.

"It does that, kid." I offered him my ale. "Drink?"

"No, but I could use a good dinner out. I'm tired of all that instant stuff we've been chewing on lately."

"I thought you Jedi were used to all that instant crap? Don't tell me you used to pawn meals off the local politicians and royalty during your missions? Now how did _that_ look to the locals?"

"Of course we pawned meals off of them! Well, I was small, so I didn't eat much, but you didn't expect us to go save a planet and just eat hard bread and bland soup, did you? And some of those politicians were idiots, Master Ayden used to tell me. You couldn't deal with them at all unless you did so with a full and contented stomach."

"Ah, so you were really a Mr. Big Shot Jedi, huh? And maybe all those politicians really needed their egos popped once in a while…"

We kept on. Being stupid, that is. Except this time it was good old fashioned brother-to-brother teasing. And it felt good. No, not good. After these last five days of uncertainty and hesitation, it felt _great_.

I grabbed Tanner by the neck, squeezed hard and then pulled him out of the chair. "Come on, you royal pain in the…"

"Hey! Don't go comparing me to those cretins. _Those_ sorts – the real royals - they could've used some meals of hard bread and bland soup. I remember the second mission Master Ayden ever took me on and we had to sit with some King type guy – he wasn't really a King, just a wannabe - and he had all these servants around him…he even had one in charge of cleaning his feet. Nasty. But anyway, one time they did serve him with bland soup – I think on purpose - and the guy took the servant's face and dunked it into the soup and created this huge dramatic scene about eating beggar's food and how someone in his position should only eat the best of everything and…"

His story continued. And then I tossed my own tale about ghastly food. It went back and forth for the next half hour. We laughed a lot, Tanner and I. We laughed all the way to dinner and then all the way home; our falling out long forgotten.

Now we were just two guys being stupid…and being brothers.

* * *

_The end._


	4. Lucky

**Story Title:** Lucky

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Dashen (Tanner is 10, Dashen is 16)

**Series Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my new original characters Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Chapter Summary: **Dashen survives an explosion.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi) and Virgil Colton

* * *

A gray nothing filled with smoke…or was it dust? I couldn't see a damn thing. And the ringing, oh, the ringing in my ears was excruciating. Worse still were the screams the echoed past the ringing. People were fleeing. People were hurt. People were dying. All around. My head hurt and pounded in time with the incessant ringing. I had a feeling I should be dead right now. Was I just lucky to be alive?

Something big had happened. I was in the building, having just taken payment from a client, then a cracking noise and then giant booms all around. Explosions? Collapse? An attack? All of the above?

I heard sirens in the distance now. At least I thought they were sirens. Hard to tell the difference between that and the impounded ringing. Should I go toward the sirens? Probably. If only…ah, I couldn't see a damn thing. Moving was just about impossible, but I did it. My face was covered in dirt and dust and blood. Wiping at my eyes, I thought maybe it would help my vision. It did, if just a bit. There was a door frame a few feet in front of me. The stairwell? To my right, crushed under fallen beams, was the lobby desk that I'd stopped at moments before to ask directions to my client's office. The creature working the desk, some sort of half-breed Wookie, wasn't to be seen. I hoped that meant she'd gotten away safely.

The stairwell seemed solid. It was only one flight I had to navigate. Couldn't be all that tough, right? I mean, buildings get blown up every day. Well, not so much around here, but they do, and people deal. Or die.

I was against the whole dying thing, so I tried dealing.

An hour later, I was still dealing. I couldn't find a way out. Several others were tracking along with me. The smoke and dust had cleared some now, but in a way it made things worse. Now we could actually see what we couldn't get around. We did our best to help those we could and at least get them out from under debris. Some we couldn't help and they would have to wait for bigger equipment and uninjured rescuers. Others were long past any assistance at all.

I threw up several times during that hour. The smells, sights, inhalation of who knew what, and just the thought of what had happened had my stomach turning flips. I only wanted to get the hell out of here and I couldn't for the life of me find a way out.

Then a shout from nearby; someone had found a hole to the outside. It was small and jagged, but as luck would have it, it was large enough for us to barely squeeze through. And we did; one by one. My slide through was painful and I felt flesh rip near my ribcage. But if I'd survived a building collapsing on top of me I could survive a simple flesh wound, right?

Outside, the view wasn't much better, but at least it was outside. Flashing lights were everywhere. Authorities were barking orders. Rescue personnel were running from there to here and back again. Equipment was being moved into place. It was an organized chaos and I trusted that those left inside and alive were in good hands now.

I, myself, staggered around for several minutes. I was looking for something. Someone? A couple people tried to direct me towards the healer tents that had been set up, but no, there was something I was after. My head still hurt though and my ears were still ringing and I was having difficulty remembering what it was…until I heard it. No, not it. Him. His voice.

I followed the sound as best I could. He kept screaming for me, my brother. And as long as he didn't stop, I'd find him.

Then I did. He was there, standing just on the outside of the rumble. Tannerlin yelled incessantly into the dust and smoke and crowds, calling for me. Behind him, thankfully, with hands holding his shoulders tight was Colton, keeping the kid from hurling himself into the chaos to try and find me. I'd found him first.

He saw me and Colton released him. Tanner ran and hurtled chunks of debris to get to me. When he did, I think it was the best damn feeling in the world. Pushing into my chest, he wrapped his ten year old arms around me and held on. I could feel him crying into my half-shredded tunic and all I could do was to hold tight.

Wrapping a dirty hand around his hair, with my voice raspy, I managed to say, "It's okay, Mouse. I'm okay."

Other than the arms getting tighter around me, there wasn't a response and the next thing I felt were larger arms pulling around the both of us and then Colton's voice. "You stupid idiot. You ever scare the kid like that again and I swear I'll kick your moronic self from here to Hoth. Do you understand me?"

I laughed of all things. This hell around us wasn't any laughing matter, but I couldn't help it. Colton wasn't a man to toss his emotions around freely, so his words, with their hidden meaning, were just what I needed. He really did give a crap about me…not that he'd ever admit it publicly of course.

Long minutes passed. Sirens continued. Orders were still being shouted about. And I needed to get the hell out of ground zero. My legs were wobbly now, working hard to buckle under me. Whatever luck had kept me vertical this far was running out. Tanner let go so that Colton could keep me upright.

"The healer tent isn't far, Dash. Come on, now."

"Do you guys hear that ringing sound?" I asked as we hobbled toward the tent.

"No, it's your head. Word is there were several explosions."

"I think one went off_ in_ my head. I don't feel too well, Colt."

Then I fell. And the ringing stopped. And the head pounding stopped. It all stopped and the last thing I remember was Tanner squeezing my hand and begging me not to die.

Damn that kid.

Pain hurts. It sucks too. I think I was alive though. I suppose this was considered living. My surroundings weren't familiar. They looked sterile and white. There were voices nearby. None that I knew, but they were rapidly snapping out orders. Then warm hands settled on either side of my face, checked under my eyelids, felt my forehead, rubbed my jaw line towards my ears and then massaged through my hair. Okay so it wasn't a massage, but it felt nice. The hands came away with pretty red colors on them. That had to be bad.

Ms. Warm Hands had a voice and it spoke. "Mr. Lesedi? I am Healer Eras. Your injuries are not serious, but substantial enough that you should stay horizontal for several days. I gave instructions to your brother and your uncle."

Uncle? I didn't have an unc…ooooooooh, yes I did. A fake one. Colton's cover when it came to us. My head was fuzzy. My brain wasn't working.

I was about to talk back to her when I realized I couldn't.

"You have dust in your lungs. It will expel itself, but may take a few days to completely clear. Speaking will be difficult for a time. Try not to do it."

Yes ma'am! I did love to talk though and was sure I would disobey her orders. For now I just pointed – to my ears and head. She understood.

"You were very fortunate, Mr. Lesedi. Most likely, you were in close proximity to one of the explosions. Although, the fact that you are alive counters that belief." Funny lady. Just hilarious. "Concussion is why your head feels like it does. The sound affected your ears. The ringing will stop completely within 48-72 hours. You will get a hypo-spray of antibiotics to take home. The wound on your side is deep and it was cleaned, but it still could become infected from the debris that was forged inside. Instructions are with your family. Your regular healer should check your wound in two days and it should be freshly wrapped daily. And that's it. Once your uncle returns, he can take you home. We will need to free up this bed." That worked for me and I did, like a fool, try and move before "Uncle Colton" arrived. And then sure enough, only nano-seconds later, I regretted that action. Healer Eras pushed me onto my back again. Flat. "When he arrives, I said. No sooner. Stay still. I must see to other patients now."

Uncle and brother popped up soon after she left. I'd never been so happy to see familiar faces. Tanner immediately bent down and hugged me awkwardly. It hurt some, but the kid looked distraught as all get out, so I allowed it. Colton knew better than to be all mushy in public, so instead he gave me my marching orders.

"My driver is waiting outside the perimeter fence. You ready?"

I nodded and drew blood on my bottom lip to keep the pain in. Our journey to Colton's speeder was short and our ride was comfy; an entire backseat all to myself. Well, almost. I was using Tanner's lap as a pillow since the kid refused to step one foot away from me. I was okay with that and to be honest, I needed it right now. I felt like crap both physically and emotionally, and still didn't know all that had happened.

Tanner curled his left hand around my shoulder to lie across my chest and grip my right hand. I felt something then. Something…weird. A faint and strange sensation tingling through my chest. Or maybe I was just imaging it. But no, there it was again. No, no imagination involved. It was there. What the hell?

My 'not-brother' brother had gone and grown up on me at the grand old age of ten and it was his turn to be the comforter. He knew I felt whatever he'd just done and he looked down at me.

"The Force can comfort even non Force users. Master Ayden used to tell me that and taught me how it worked. It can be settling. I don't have a lot of power behind my control, but if you let it help, you'll feel it."

The Force, huh? So that's what it felt like? Or what a ten year old, partially trained version of it felt like. Not so bad. Relaxing really, in a way. Tingly, but calming…once I got over the freaking me out part. I kept still and let the waves wash from the kid to me. Before I knew it, I was dead to the world. Out cold and when I finally opened my eyes, I was home, in my own bed and it was almost twenty-four hours later. Wow! The Force works in mysterious ways? Or was I just exhausted from almost being blown up and buried alive? A little of both I suppose.

The first thing I heard was Colton telling me, "About damn time you woke up. The kid's been worried sick and no offense, but I didn't sign up for adult diaper duty." What was he talking about…oh, ah, um. Whoops. "You've been bathed twice. Next time, you go vertical and make it to the bathroom."

Flinching slightly, I nodded my agreement, unsure about testing my voice. Colton shoved a cup into my hand after he propped me up on two pillows. Things were still ringing and pounding, but the volume was down some. Guess that healer lady was right.

"Drink it then talk. The kid says it's good for sore throats. The Jedi healers used to give it to them when they were sick."

I sipped. I spit it out.

"He also said, let's see, how did he phrase it? Oh, it's disgustingly nasty and he'd rather drink swamp mud."

I gave Colton a look but forced myself to take another swig and then another. As nasty as it was (and it was swampy disgustingly so), there did seem to be a coating effect and things didn't feel as on fire as they did moments ago. So, I rasped out, "Where…Tan?"

"Sleeping. At least he was when I left him. Worried himself into a fit and then exhaustion. He's a devoted one, that's for certain. Whatever he did, wiped him out. What'd he do to you anyway?"

"Force stuff."

"Ah, so that's what he was babbling about. Kept saying he hoped none of this was his fault, your sleeping so long. Makes sense now."

Another taste of disgusto-drink and I was ready for another sentence. "Do…know wha…happen?"

"The building? Well, not a bomb. A build up of natural chemicals underground. Chemicals that don't like to play nice with each other when exposed to air. Some moron, who is now either dead or fired – or perhaps both - drilled in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then, boom. And boom. And a third boom. Ten dead at least, fifty or so injured, including you. You are one lucky fool. Not sure how he found out, but Tannerlin came running home from school yelling for you. He knew you were supposed to be in that building today. I grabbed him and we went to the site. Kid was full on prepared to rush in there and find you. Mighty little thing when he's determined too. Thankfully he's young and small, and I'm not. So I could keep a hold on him. He just kept yelling for you. I thought he might scream himself hoarse. I swear, Dash, you ever die and this kid is gonna lose it."

That worried me, but didn't surprise me. One year as fake brothers and we were effectively real ones. I was just glad it wasn't my time to go yet, for both our sakes.

And speaking of, at just that moment, Tanner came staggering into the room. So much for sleeping. And I told him as much…softly.

"Should be…sleeping." Another revolting sip of the galaxy's most sordid drink (only because it was helpful) as I patted the kid's hand. He was thinking about trying his Force stuff on me again, I knew it. I could see it in his tired face. "No…more, Mouse." I managed.

"But it can help you rest. It did help you rest."

I nodded. "Did good. Made you tired. No more. Not now. Just…sit with me. 'k?"

Tanner sat close and wrapped his hand in mine. "Thank you for not dying."

"Did my best," I grinned.

"You can't die, Dash. Not ever."

Wellllllll, that wasn't gonna happen, no matter how hard I tried. Hadn't yet figured out the whole immortality thing. But Tanner had seen death before; death of insurmountable evil and devastating loss. After that, there wasn't much he had, except me. And even that was a work in progress for a while. I would do what I could to not die before him.

I didn't respond to his demand, not verbally. Instead I gripped his hand tighter, took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

Tanner finally said, "I'll stay with you so you can sleep, Dash."

Yeah, he was a good kid. I couldn't ask for better. It's no wonder his master had gone to extremes to keep him alive. The galaxy needed that kind of good. There was far too little of it left anymore.

My weary eyes opened and I squinted up at him as I gave in and relented. "Okay. Go ahead. Do your Force stuff. Just promise me you'll sleep after."

"I will," he smiled. And the next thing I knew, his hand was on my chest again and I felt that tingling sensation once more. I was beginning to think I'd turned into a full-fledged guinea pig for his Force studies. My eyes went shut again and I let go of the tension from my injuries to allow the kid to work his beginner's magic.

This time I slept for another twenty-four hours and when I woke,, Tanner was sleeping, as promised. Only this time he was tucked up next to me in the bed, curled on his side…quiet as a mouse. In the doorway, Colton was there shaking his blond head and grinning.

Seems Tanner had had a little bit of help finding just the right place to settle in for a snooze.

"What?" Colton said in his defense. "He fell asleep right after he put you to sleep. I'd have woken him if I had to move him into his room. So, I improvised. He's ten, he's small and he doesn't take up a lot of room. And let's face it, right now, attached to you is where he needs to be. So suck it up and deal, damn it."

Colton was right and I did suck it up. It wasn't so bad I guess; being scrunched into a bed made for one person. I was only two days removed from almost being crushed to death by an angry building. People had died. Others had been more severely injured than me. If this was the worst I'd have to endure during the rest of my recovery – a newly acquired little brother who loves the hell out of me taking up a chunk of my personal space during my convalescence – I think I'd be okay.

Actually I was more than okay. I was pretty damned lucky.

* * *

_The end_


	5. Finding Obi-Wan

**Chapter Title:** Finding Obi-Wan

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Dashen (Tannerlin is 10, Dashen is 16)

**Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Chapter Summary:** A job takes the boys to Tatooine where they find a surprising ally.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi) and Obi-Wan Kenobi

* * *

'Damn it, Dash!'

That was it, my first thought as I came around. Here I was…coming around…

Ever have a brick whack you in the head? No? Consider yourself lucky. I have, so I know what it feels like. It feels a pain that penetrates your brain, runs down your spinal cord and into every last nerve ending on your body. That's what I felt like right about now as I tried for sight. My eyes worked to open and eventually succeeded, but at a cost. This time, I hadn't been nailed by a brick, but by a spectacular landspeeder crash. Not even sure what we crashed into. A barge? A bantha? A giant pile of sand? Who knew? Who cared? All I know is that one minute I could see miles in front of me, the next minute I couldn't see my hands on the controls. Damn sand storms.

I knew coming here was a bad idea. I hate the desert. I hate sand unless it's me lounging on a beach, which is an activity I've only done once in my life. I certainly don't enjoy a planet full of the stuff. Sand, wind, heat. Tattooine was a crap load of nasty. But the money was too good to pass up. I didn't often take off-planet jobs. The whole lack of transportation and money part of things often did me in, but this one paid enough so that I could start paying Colton back for the cost of my brother's schooling. And it seemed simple enough. Of course those are famous last words that many have uttered in the past. Someone should ban them from ever being said again.

The job? Go to dusty planet, find some robe-wearing hermit, and lift from him a cylindrical silver object that glows green…a bit cryptic, but I've solved many a puzzle before, I could figure this out. The job was doable. So, I packed a small bag, piled it and my brother, Tannerlin into the next interplanetary shuttle from home and bam! We were here.

From the start Tanner felt something odd about the job. Well, maybe not odd, but off. He'd been learning the trade – I was a runner (I loved it, he hated it) - with me for the last year, between going to school and his other hobby – Force exercises. Despite the Jedi Order being all but wiped out a year and a half ago, and Tanner suffering a great personal loss at that time, he'd made a point to continue to practice what his now-dead master had taught him. The kid's only ten, but has a determination and dedication about him that's damn impressive. And I know he doesn't want to be a runner – aka thief – as his life's work, but it does bring in money and its semi-legit…most of the time.

He'd been studying me and working to learn and understand the methods behind being a good runner. Basically if you were fast and could think on your feet, you'd do well enough.

Anyway, because he was a Jedi – or used to be – I didn't feel safe leaving him home for this job, with me being so far away. The Empire was still conducting random Jedi checks here and there, and if there was any chance of them roaming our home town back on Terra with massive weapons of death, I wanted the kid here with me. I'd adopted him, sorta. Not officially. That would draw attention – and legally I wasn't old enough to adopt him. Not that it mattered. In every way except blood, Tanner had become my little brother. And I was thankful to have his company.

Thinking of him though, between sharp pains shooting through my head, got my attention. It wasn't his face I saw when I finally got my eyes to open. It was some older guy. Chestnut hair, aged face and blue-green eyes that had seen far too many terrible things. I put him at about 40ish in human years, although he _seemed_ older. And there was something else there…something…no. No. First, I had to find my brother.

My eyes were slit from my horizontal position and I looked at where he sat nearby. His attention focused on me when he saw me coming around.

I cleared my throat and said, "Who the hell are you?" Nothing like a friendly greeting to get a relationship flowing, right? But this guy didn't seem perturbed by either the tone or the question.

"Ben. How is your head?"

"Hurts like a…wait, where the hell am I?" See how I just soothe right in? I had a way with people, I really did.

"Tattooine."

Yes, thank you, Mr. Obvious. "No, I mean, I know that. _Where_ am I?"

"You are in my home. I pulled you from the wreck. Your speeder exploded. I hope you didn't pay much for it."

Funny. He was a funny guy. I wasn't in the mood. "Rental. Too bad for them." Then…"Wait. Exploded?" Oh, no, no, no, no. Tanner. "Did you get my brother out? Did you see him?"

Ben stepped closer and knelt next to wherever I was lying. "Small and thin. Brown hair?"

"Yes, that's him. Where is he?"

"I don't know. Someone else pulled him out before the fire. I lost track trying to keep you from burning to ashes."

This was bad. Very, very bad. Tanner was probably hurt and of course he was on a strange planet where anyone could prod at him enough until he spilled his secret about being Jedi. And…I had to find him. I tried to get up. Bad idea. Ben pushed me back down.

"You'll do no good trying to move at the moment. You can't travel anywhere right now anyway. Sandstorms are crossing over. It'll be ugly outside for the next several hours. If your brother is safe, he'll be okay."

Not good enough, Benny boy. I tried to get up again while the guy had crossed to the other side of the room. This time I was pushed back down, not by his hands, but by some unseen power. Power that I knew and that I'd felt before…from Tannerlin.

Oh no, not another one.

I landed softly back on my pillow and groaned.

"Problem?"

"What am I, a magnet for you people? Damn it!"

"You people?"

"Yeah, Force-boy. Don't think I didn't notice. I know why you seem different. And not to be ungrateful or anything, but I don't really enjoy being the guinea pig for Force users."

His eyebrows raised and he eyed me carefully. Obviously he felt no threat, or he would have disposed of me by tossing me out into the bazillion degree heat and ninety mile per hour winds and watching me burn to a crisp and fly away. I appreciated him not going that route.

There was quiet for a long minute before he said anything else. "You know another?"

"I do and he's missing."

Ben nodded in immediate understanding. "I see. Not your_ brother_ then."

"Not by blood, but…we're family, trust me. No one else volunteered to look after him these last eighteen months."

Yes, eighteen months since the slaughter. The older Jedi reflected almost instantly. I could suddenly see a life of losses in his eyes. Heartbreak. Betrayal. And just about every other human emotion one could imagine.

"Your friend is fortunate," he finally said. "I can claim no family, of blood or non blood. Not any longer."

Slowly this time, I sat up. He didn't push me back. "I figure you lost about what he did. But at least you had age and experience on your side."

Retreating to the window to watch the sand storming across the area, Ben said, "We will need to find him then. Your friend…brother. What's his name?"

"Tannerlin Vai."

A shake of the head. No memories of that name. He hadn't known Tanner. I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing at the moment, it just was what it was.

"You'll rest another couple hours and then we'll go."

"What about the storms?"

"Cloaks will help protect us. We cannot allow him to be discovered for what he is. Substantial rewards are still being offered for Jedi, dead or alive. It's not safe for any of us, much less one so young. Lie back and rest."

"But…" I tried to protest as he put a hand to my forehead and just like that, I went down for the count.

I woke up a little less groggy, still with pain in my head, but more tolerable. Ben was nowhere to be found, until I found him. The back room of his hovel, he fumbled with purpose through a box of various items. Two of them - cylindrical sliver objects – ah, light sabers. I should have known. How much did you want to gamble that one of them had a green blade? If I owned a farm, I'd have bet it. I never knew that Jedi carried two of them though.

"You keep two. Does one of them…glow green by any chance?"

He looked up at me with the strangest of expressions. A quirky smile that I hadn't expected and strangely enough, his blue-green eyes smiled. Memories of the past perhaps? Good ones, I hoped. The green blade hummed to magnificent life. The hilt was scarred and battered, but it was clear that it held a meaning deeper than just a simple weapon.

"This belonged to my master, Qui-Gon Jinn." And therein lay the object I'd been sent here to steal for such a large price. "He was slain by a Sith Lord over fifteen years ago. He died in my arms. He was _my _family." Well, so much for the stealing idea. Money isn't all that it's cracked up to be anyway, right? "I don't often carry a light saber with me any longer for fear of being discovered, but on occasion, it is helpful as back up."

"So, this Jinn guy…"

"Qui-Gon."

"Right. He was important to you."

"He was."

"How old were you when he died?"

"Twenty-Five. But I had trained with him since I was thirteen. To lose someone after such a time…"

I held up a hand to stop him. Been there done that. "I know what it's like. I've had my own family death issues, so I can do without the story right now. I can't lose the kid though."

"No," Ben said as he retrieved another cloak – dark blue to his brown - from a nearby clothes trunk. "It's a bit long, but this will work for you. Keep the hood pulled up and over your face. Don't talk to anyone. I can see how your mouth operates. I wasn't much unlike you when I was younger. A smart-ass. It often got me into trouble."

Okay. I didn't know how to reply to that one. A complete stranger had just told me I had a snarky, big mouth and called me a smart-ass. He was right, but still. I stood and put the cloak on. My body ached. My head hurt. Remember that brick? It was better, but still there.

We wandered out into the storm. Sand pelted us from every direction. Was it possible for sand to fly straight up? If it was, it did. I pulled the hood down until I couldn't see in front of me, but it kept the sand from stinging my skin. Blindly, my hand reached out to grasp Ben's robe. I could handle a stinging hand, but I needed my face in one piece.

Ben didn't turn around when he said, "Follow close and don't stray."

Sometimes my brain knew when to not argue. This was one of those times. My nerves were ramped up and my stomach felt sick because of it. It wasn't the storms causing any of it – it was the fact that I had no idea if my brother was even alive.

"Your friend – brother - he's alive."

Huh? What? Get outta my head, Jedi boy!

"I can feel it in the Force. He is definitely among the living."

We trod through the wind and sand for what seemed like hours. In reality, a little less than one hour had passed. There was a large rusted metal and wheeled contraption ahead. Outside the thing were about six or eight small dark-robbed figures scurrying around the vehicle. Ben walked right up to them and started gesturing with his hands that he was looking for a small boy, this high and this old and this color hair and all of that. The creatures were evidently called Jawa and they spoke in some sort of gibberish. No idea if Ben actually understood them or vice versa, but he managed to get his point across. Not that it mattered. As guilty as the diminutive beings appeared, they determinedly kept the Jedi away from the entrance to their giant transport.

That all changed however when the transport started sinking into the sand. The Jawa dove into a jabbering panic and wouldn't you know, within seconds their defiant tone had changed. A signal to wait was given to Ben, as several of the creatures hurried inside and then back out, dragging a human boy with them.

As much as I wanted to run to Tanner and get him away and out of the flying, stinging sand, I obeyed Ben's continued insistence that I stay put. Actually I tried not to obey, but he had me stationary. A tiny little flick of his hand and my forward motion stopped. Damn Jedi and their Force tricks! Finally though, they handed Tanner to Ben. Ben took him into his arms while un-sinking the transport at the same time and lifting his power away from me. My legs moved now and I hurried alongside of the pair as we backed away into the direction of his home.

"Your brother is alive," Ben assured me. "Walk quickly before they change their minds."

Ben carefully settled Tanner onto the same bed where I'd been not long before. His face was bruised from the wreck and small red welts from the sand seemed to be everywhere, but I didn't feel anything broken. A healer I wasn't, but Ben felt the same. I lifted his tunic to see a lot of discoloration on his chest. Not unlike what I had on my own body – from the frontal impact of the crash. Bruises would heal. As long as he was alive and breathing…

Ben stared at him for several long minutes. I didn't know for certain, but I suspected he was longing for the past while at the same time relieved to see another of his own kind.

Tanner opened his eyes. Mine was the first face he saw, and he managed a painful smile.

"Dash."

"Right here, Mouse." I sat as close as I could and put my hand on top of his. "You look a mess."

"Feel a mess. Where are we?"

I could have gone with the obvious, and the same thing Ben pulled on me, and said Tatooine, but Tanner probably wasn't up for my joking just yet. "This guy pulled me out

of the speeder and he helped me get you back from those Jawa things."

My brother scrunched his face in confusion and said, "Is that what they were? They were creepy with those big yellow eyes and that weird babbling. I think they wanted to dissect me."

From nearby, came a quiet laugh as Ben finally approached. "Not likely. But they probably would have sold you. Jawa love a good monetary score. And children are valuable slave commodities on Tatooine. Hello Tannerlin. My name is Ben. It's good to meet you." There was an expression on his face that I couldn't identify and then Ben closed his eyes and took one long deep breath. Eyes opened. Even in the prone horizontal position he was in, Tanner's own eyes went huge and there came another smile; an honest, genuine and eager smile. He knew what Ben was; knew what they shared.

"Ben. You survived too?"

"I did, with help of course."

"How did you…um…did others…do you know of any others?"

"Only Master Yoda. I was with him during our escape. We agreed to separate and each hide in our own space. Other than that, I can't say. I would suspect there are a few of us scattered and hidden. I'm glad to have found another."

Talk about hitting it off from the start! These two were already like two creepy Force users in a pod. Damn Jedi. And I guess I should have been jealous that the kid I'd been raising all these months had latched so quickly to a complete stranger…but I wasn't. Honestly, I think I was more comforted than anything. Comforted, yes. That sounded like the right emotion; knowing that Tanner wasn't the only one of his kind. It's something I could never identify with no matter how much he told or shared with me, but I will say that there was something in this for me. I mean, if I could count this Ben as an ally if we ever got stuck in Tatooine again, that worked too. Good allies aren't easy to find and keep alive. Seems we had ourselves one now. Go team!

Ben excused himself for a moment and wandered into another room as Tannerlin decided that horizontal wasn't his thing anymore. I helped and he moaned in pain until he was vertical. Well, more like vertical-ish.

"Just lean, Tanner." I put an arm around him and held him upright. "Don't push too fast. We're leaving here without our posh prize, but that doesn't mean we don't need to be prepared to move quickly. We…"

"Wait, what do you mean without our prize? The silver green glowy thingy is worth a lot of money. You said it could pay for my school for the next year."

"Change of plans. Forget the job ever happened. And, come on, a silver green glowy thingy?"

"You called it that first. What else should I call it when I don't know what it is?"

I sighed and told him. He should know anyway. "The object we are supposed to lift is here. It's a light saber and belonged to Ben's old master. I saw it. There's no way I can take that, even if I could get it out of here." Pulling Tanner a bit closer, I gave him one of my famous half-hugs, knowing he'd understand immediately. He'd understand, because he hid the same thing. Back home on the outskirts of the town called Kaolin, on the planet of Terra, he kept items from his former life - several trinkets and two light sabers -his own and that of his own dead master. They both radiated a spectacular humming blue. I'm no connoisseur of colors, but it was possibly the most beautiful blue one could ever imagine. And the way Tanner had looked at them when they were lit…no, no, that's not right. He didn't _look_ at them, he got lost in them. And when he did, it was both a moment of power and heartbreak. No, this job – this run - would end empty for my client awaiting his prize on the other end. Ben's piece of his past would remain a secret outside these sandy walls, just as Tanner's remained the same at home.

There wasn't a verbal reaction to my confession about the light saber; the impact of the statement and the significance behind it was immediate. Without a doubt, I knew that it forced agonizing memories of his own personal loss to surface. Tanner remained silent as let his head fall to lean a bit more heavily against me. I set my hand against the side of his face and brought his head to my shoulder. Here was a kid who never hurt a thing in his life and at ten years old he housed enough haunting memories to last a lifetime. It was a damned shame.

He didn't try and move from my hold as his muffled voice vocalized around the sudden sadness. "Dash, I miss Master Ayden. I miss him every single day."

"I know you do, Mouse. I still miss my brother - I still miss Kossi every day too. Sometimes you never get over the one closest to you."

Another voice entered our misery. Ben was suddenly kneeling in front of us, concerned. "If it means anything, my master died just over fifteen years ago. I still miss him and even though I…well, I miss him."

That pause and the _even though_, there was something else there. Something he wasn't telling us concerning this Qui-Gon Jinn person. That should bother me, right? He was holding back a Jedi secret that…no, no, it shouldn't. We've known this guy for all of how many hours? Whatever secrets he may have, whatever past or present he holds, it really wasn't any of our business. Right now, he was trying to comfort a fellow Jedi still haunted by the nightmare of not even two years ago. For his help…I was grateful.

Tanner lifted his eyes to meet Ben's. "You do? You miss your master?"

"I do. His counsel and guidance made me who I am. He was a teacher and father to me. What did you say your master's name was?"

Head lifted from my shoulder, but Tanner didn't move from my grasp. "Ayden Yen."

Ben thought a moment. An overly-long moment. I'd started to think he'd zoned out on us, when he finally replied, "I had class with Master Ayden when I was fifteen or so. He taught Field Negotiation. Yes, a semester I was in his class. One of my very favorite classes." I supposed Ben was telling the truth, I hoped he was, because he now had Tanner's full and undivided attention. "I can tell you why it was a favorite too, because Ayden had a sense of humor to his teaching. Taught us how to handle those real problem political types, you know the ones that bore you out of your socks? Never once did he teach a dull class that I recall and even though he commanded your complete attention and focus, he wasn't afraid to see the humor in being a Jedi. I remember too how much he liked to laugh." Tanner nodded briskly. "You didn't see that often in Jedi Masters. So many of them were as stiff as boards, but Ayden was a good man, Tannerlin. I can imagine how much he loved teaching you."

"Did…did you have any other classes with him after that?"

"No, just that one. I saw him from time to time around the Temple. He'd say hello always. That memory of his, he never did forget the face of a former student."

The slight shoulders I still held, relaxed and Tanner smiled again. "Thank you for telling me, Ben. I'm glad he's remembered."

"As am I. Here," Ben held out two bowls that he'd carried over a few minutes ago. "Soup. Eat. I don't have much in the way of culinary skills, but soup I can do."

We both accepted the bowls and slurped it up. We had seconds too, during which I started trying to plan our way home. Neither of us were in pristine physical shape, but if we arrived back to my client covered in bruises, it would help sell my story as to why we hadn't been able to retrieve the object he'd wanted. The speeder wreck would be truth. The rest of my narrative was going to be bald-faced lie from top to bottom.

"Hey, Ben, can you give us a lift back to port? We need to head home soon. I've a client that I need to lie to and well…"

The Jedi grinned. "And the bruised look goes a long way, right?"

"It does."

"I am sorry that I cannot help you with what you were sent here for. But you do know I showed it to you for that reason?"

Crap. He'd known what I was after? How? Did I look that stupid when he took the saber out of the box? Perhaps I'd been drooling at the time? Drooling will always give you away.

"I saw your face when I showed you the saber. That was the look of money, immediately before it changed to a look of bitter disappointment. I do wish I had one to spare for your hunt, but…"

"I didn't even know it was here until you held it. In reality, I didn't even know what I was looking for until then either. I only had a description to go by. But, as empty as it will leave my pockets, I can honestly say I'll be glad to come up empty on this one. The money was good… okay, wait…the money was great, but this…" I glanced to my side at Tanner and then back to Ben…"This is worth a hell of a lot more." I paused for a brief moment before asking, "So, about that ride now?"

"At least wait until morning. The ports are less dangerous then. The bounty hunters tend to gather in the afternoon. Morning is safer."

We didn't leave the next morning. Sand storms again; nastier than before. We didn't leave the day after either. It was three more days in fact that we were stuck here. Tanner wasn't stuck. He was in his element and loving it. I on the other hand was bored out of my skull. I tried to enjoy my brother's sudden finding. After all, the Jedi was all he'd known until he was nine. Finding Ben for him was like finding a long lost friend. Those several days were spent with Ben teaching Tannerlin all he could about the Force and how to use it correctly and subtly as to not attract the attention of the unwanted kind.

Now, I have to admit, some of the tricks he was learning would come in handy, but that didn't stop it from being mind-numbingly boring for me. I kept quiet though. Tanner deserved this. He deserved finding another like himself and being able to share memories of what once was. I suppose I mentioned before, I really should have felt a bit of jealously in all of this, what with the kid's rapid attachment to this forty-something stranger, this Jedi-in-hiding . But I didn't. I wasn't foolish enough to really believe that they were strangers. I mean, they were, but at the same time, they weren't.

It was a Jedi thing.

The third night, I left for a local tavern so that my brain didn't explode from boredom. I found some strangers of my own to shoot the breeze with. Every bit of everything that each of us said was a bald-faced lie, but it made for good stories and it's what happens when you drink too much and the ale seeps into your common sense. And of course I lost track of time – by hours. I wandered back to Ben's hovel in the bright early morning suns. Were two suns really necessary? I guess if one burned out, sure, but for hangovers? Two was much more blinding light than one hung over sixteen year old needed. I wasn't drunk anymore, but spending eight hours in a dark shady bar wasn't good for the eyes when you finally found your sea legs again and wandered outside. At least I didn't spontaneously combust in the heat.

The hovel was in the distance and when I approached, I was greeted a small thundering thud against my chest and arms that immediately surrounded me. Tanner.

"Oooof! Come on, kid, what the…"

"Where have you been?" Tanner released me from his hug. "I thought something happened! You said you were going to a tavern and you didn't come back! You didn't take your communicator and Ben wouldn't let me go look for you because it's too dangerous at night, but you were out there and…"

Okay, so I hadn't given _that_ any thought. I'll blame the ale. I hurried to answer though, before the kid started interrogating me further. At least I'd gotten a hug before being yelled at.

"Please stop yelling. I'm sorry. I am. I lost track of time while I was refueling at the tavern. A little too much on tap and I lost track of myself. At least the sand storms let up, huh?"

Tanner punched me in the arm. "Don't change the subject and…," he hit me a second time, "That's for scaring me to death!"

"I deserve it. And I think we need to go home. I know you're enjoying your time learning from Ben but I was due back with the loot yesterday. And since I have no loot to provide to my client, I need to make sure my lies are in order. Being a late returning _and_ returning empty handed is not the way to keep a client happy. And I can't afford to lose this guy. He pays well and will continue to, assuming he rehires me after he finds out I didn't bring back the cylindrical silver object that glows green or as you like to say, the silver green glowy thingy. Come on." I set a hand on his shoulder and we walked into the hovel. Ben had packed two small bags for us. Seems he already knew our plans. Creepy Jedi.

"A few snacks for the flight home. It's still early. You should get to the spaceport soon. I have a ride for you." Motioning for us to go back outside, Ben made a sharp whistle sound. A minute later, a large tan eopie appeared. "This is Sam. He's a friend and he'll get you safely to the port, right Sam?"

The beast grunted and nudged Ben with his long snout. Ben responded by fishing a treat out of his tunic pocket. "He'll take good care of you."

Already saddled and ready to go, Sam was set. It was up to us now. I put a friendly hand out to Ben. He took it and wrapped his other around it. "Thank you for your help," I stole a glance at Tanner who was taking his turn with feeding snacks to Sam, "…for everything. As surprising as this all was, it's meant a lot to him."

"I can say the same. It lessens the feeling of aloneness to know that he and possibly others are alive. You've done well by him, Dashen. Keep him close, but keep yourself wary. He'll never be completely safe as long as he practices our ways."

"He's a determined kid, Ben, but…he's my brother. I'll keep him safe."

Tanner finished feeding Sam and rubbing the beast's head, when he wrapped his arms around Ben in a tight hug and before backing away a few seconds later. "I'm glad we found you, Ben…Obi-Wan." Obi-Wan? What the hell was an Obi-Wan? The kid kept going. "I figured it out. You said who your master was and that he was killed by a Sith. It was part of our learning in the crèche. Master Qui-Gon was a hero as was his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You killed the Sith and saved us all."

The smile on Ben's face faded as the past returned; an agonizing past from the looks of it. He may have saved the Jedi then, but obviously something went wrong after the fact. Not that I needed the details, and honestly I didn't want anything to do with the details. His face showed enough. Tanner hugged Ben again; tighter this time as if trying to comfort him from the memories of the truth.

"You're correct, Tannerlin. And no one has called me Obi-Wan…," a slight pause as if there was something else he wanted to say and then decided against it…"…in quite a long time. I do miss it. I wish I could have saved us from what came after."

The hug ended and Tanner wiped at his eyes. "You'll be lonely out here, won't you?"

"I'll survive. The Force has decided that this is my future just as it has decided that your future is with Dashen – your brother. I had a brother once – at least I thought he was my brother…" Pain and regret ached across Ben's face. "He fell and I couldn't save him." Heartbreak. "Keep your brother close, Tannerlin. He'll keep you from losing yourself if things get too difficult. And Dashen," Ben stared at me andthen_ into_ me. "Don't lose him…even if he falls."

Obviously there was a story in all of that and we didn't understand it, but I could take an educated guess and say that it was probably the most painful thing Ben had ever suffered through. And I also knew he meant every word he said (and all those he didn't) about Tanner and I keeping each other safe. I had no plans to do anything other than just that.

"I promise I won't lose him, Ben."

Eye contact broken, Ben leaned forward and pressed his temple against Tanner's. Something unspoken passed between them. I left it alone. Another one of those creepy Jedi things. I legged my tall self up onto Sam's back and was about to pull Tanner up behind me when he began levitating off the ground. Ben raised and lowered a hand and gently set Tanner down behind me on the eopie.

Okay, creepy Jedi or not, _that_ was cool! Tanner really had to learn that trick. So far he could only toss rocks around the apartment…and his aim left a lot to be desired.

"Neat trick, Ben. Can you teach that to the kid?"

"Already have. It's up to him now to practice until it becomes second nature. It will. You might want to leave the room when it happens though, Dashen. Ten year old Jedi aren't really known for control and accuracy." Ben smiled at me again, but this time it was _way _too sneaky. Glancing back at Tanner, his face held the same grin. Great, just what I needed - to be the launching pad of my brother's new found Jedi tricks as he hurls me across the apartment or bashes me into the ceiling. We were certain to have a long talk about this once we got home.

"Stop smiling. Both of you. It's creepy. Weirdo Jedi." They laughed then, but at least it wasn't a creepy laugh. "Later, Desert-boy. Thanks again."

"May the Force be with you, Dashen, and with you, Tannerlin. Always."

"Bye, Ben…Obi-Wan. May the Force be with you."

"Safe journey to you both."

I waved a hand and encouraged Sam forward. He knew the way. I left him alone to take us to the port. I also left alone that last scene with Tanner and Ben. That whole 'may the Force be with you' crap. I didn't get it. I wasn't supposed to get it. It confused me and I'm sure that was supposed to happen too. Maybe my brother would spill the beans about that weirdo farewell mumbo jumbo on our trip home. Or maybe he wouldn't.

That confused me, but I was a bit less perplexed by something else – I was almost certain now that we'd been destined to find Ben…Obi-Wan. We'd been brought here for a reason. It was the whole _why_ that I didn't quite grasp.

And all this thinking was making my hung over brain more and more clouded. I turned and took a last look at the tired man standing outside the small hovel in the middle of the sand. He appeared to be speaking aloud to someone. But who? I certainly couldn't see anyone. Eh, probably just my brain still feeling the effects of the previous night. No doubt there was a lot more to Ben than Tanner or I would ever know. And I suppose it was destined to always remain that way.

But finding him had been a good thing…for all of us.

* * *

The End.


	6. Pillow Toss

**Chapter Title:** Pillow Toss

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Tanner (Tanner is 10, Dashen is 16)

**Series Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's, Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Chapter Summary: **Tanner practices his Force skills.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi)

* * *

"Kid, you hit me with one more pillow and I swear I will smother you with it. Enough with the Force crap already!"

"They don't hurt, Dash. They're just giant fluffy pillows and how else can I practice? At least I stopped practicing with breakables."

I had, but only because Colton threatened to kick us out on the street if one more piece of glass or stone crashed into a wall, floor or ceiling. Pillows were safer. They couldn't break. But they could annoy. And right now, annoy was what I did best. I was practicing my levitation skills. Skills that weren't very good right now, although the last try had been my best. Instead of flinging it up and at Dashen, I gently lifted it and smacked him over the head with it. I thought it was funny. He didn't. He was ready to plot my demise.

Big brothers can be such a stick-in-the-mud sometimes. I put the pillow down.

"Thank you. You really need to do this outside."

"I can't. People want to kill me, remember?"

Not all people, just the evil Empire-y type ones. Being one of the last Jedi alive in the galaxy had its disadvantages. And I had no desire to die as a ten-year-old, especially now that I'd just learned the true secrets in how to levitate objects. I'd learned it from another Jedi on Tatooine. Ben Kenobi had told me that as long as I practiced and was dedicated that things would come. He gave me a few secrets too. Unfortunately, he didn't tell me how to deal with a whiny big brother who kept complaining about pillows being tossed at his head.

Speaking of, Dashen came to stand over me. He was tall. I wasn't. He had black hair, I had brown. He had green eyes, I had pale brown. He was a thief, I was a Jedi. We weren't related by birth and had barely known each other for a year, but still…we were brothers and I loved my brother more than anything else on the planet…but not right now.

"Tanner, seriously. We can't keep doing this. Things are broken. Pillows are disappearing. I need to study and plan my run routes for the week and you should be doing your home school assignments."

"I know, but I need to learn this."

"All in a two week period? I think you have plenty of time. I'm pretty sure that your new Jedi pal, Ben, didn't intend for you to stop everything else in your life so you could hurl things around the apartment."

He didn't understand. Not really. Dash tried, but he couldn't grasp the Jedi ways and why it was so important that I continue them. I didn't blame him. He'd only ever met a couple Jedi the past, and they were Council members he'd come across in passing. Not representative of the Order as a whole. We weren't all pompous and arrogant. I just wish he'd be able to understand better; then he'd see that I wasn't just tossing pillows around. As fun as it was, there was a purpose for it.

And so it was that I meant every single syllable of my next words.

"It's important, Dash. At least to me, it is."

"I know, Tanner. Believe me, I know. But can't you slow it down just a bit? How about set aside two days a week for practice…and I swear I won't harass you anymore about this self-training stuff that you're doing. But this every day crap, from the time you get home from school until bed, it's not healthy. To be honest, it's a little obsessive."

Hmmm…was I that bad? I didn't think so. Since we'd gotten home from Tatooine, I'd been practicing - a lot. Trying to remember everything Ben had told me. It was how a Jedi learned. Information passed down from mentor to apprentice and then you practiced and practiced until it became second nature and you could do these things almost without thought. Classes in the Temple had revolved around the Force, unlike here on my new home where everything from literature to engine building to construction was on the lesson schedule. These things were valuable and important of course, but they left me needing more. They fed my mind, but they didn't' feed the Jedi side of me. All of that condensed energy seemed to ball up inside and once I got home and it was safe…it all sort of poured out at once. And all in the ten days since we'd found Ben. And, I guess…well, I guess I was being a little obsessive.

"Sorry," I said, as the green eyes over me lessened their glare. "It's hard to keep this hidden. I mean, not hard to keep it hidden, but hard to keep it inside. All bottled up. At the Temple we would practice Force exercises all the time – it was constant - even when we were just walking and talking or even eating at the cafeteria, even the tiniest of lessons we would try to apply and learn and…"

Dashen stopped towering over me and sat down, nudging my knee with his. "You're not there anymore, Tanner. You can never be again. And I know you miss it. I know more than you realize, but you have to adjust to the now. And the now is not the Jedi Temple. It's an apartment on the second floor of a mansion owned by a master criminal that we happen to work for, and who pays for your pricey schooling. And I'm fairly confident that he doesn't appreciate us busting up the place. And…wait…you didn't throw pillows at other Jedi…did you?"

"Well, no. Not really. I couldn't really lift pillows then and the only time I managed to actually get one into the air, it swatted Master Ayden in his face and he threw it back and knocked me off the couch. I stopped the pillow thing after that."

My brother laughed at me. I don't think he really meant to, but he did. I shrugged at him. When he finally regained control he apologized, sort of.

"Sorry, Mouse, but the image of you being nailed with a high speed pillow and booted off the couch, is pretty damn funny. You did laugh at the time, right?"

I remember half-smiling as I lay there on my backside the floor; not so much laughing. Master Ayden had laughed though and picked me up, hugged me and sent me off to bed. I guess it _was_ kind of funny though.

"Okay, how about three days a week?" I finally pleaded after Dashen stopped grinning.

"Deal. You need to stay on your studies though. You can't be a teacher one day if you fail your first year at the school, especially since you are in with kids a year older. Keep your scores up and it'll work. If you start stumbling in classes though, we might have to go from three days of practice to two. Understood?"

I nodded. Technically, Dashen had no authority over me. There was no actual relation between us. He wasn't a parent and he wasn't my teacher as Master Ayden had been, he was just an older kid who had saved me and pulled me into his life without knowing what he was in for. Now sixteen, a large chunk of the last year of his life had been spent raising me, looking after me and keeping me safe. I pretty much owed him my existence and my sanity. And at this point in my life, having no one else, Dashen lived as my parent, my protector, my big brother and my best friend. There was no legal authority, but I listened to him and I obeyed his rules, because I still needed that in my life. It's what I'd known in my nine years living as part of the Jedi. I needed the structure and the boundaries. I needed the rules and conventions. I needed someone to care about me and for me to care about.

But most of all, I needed someone at whom I could toss big fluffy pillows. I smiled evilly at Dashen and said, "Okay, it's a deal. But part of the deal is that I get to practice on you. Incoming!"

Pillow launched. Target nailed.

"Damn it, Tanner!"

I ran. He chased me. Pillow tossing was turning out to be very entertaining.

* * *

The End


	7. Exploding Banthas

**Chapter Title:** Exploding Banthas

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Dashen (Tanner is 11. Dash is 17)

**Chapter Summary:** The boys battle over holovid night.

**Series Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi), & Virgil Colton

* * *

"Would you stop it? We're not watching that! Give me the damn clicker!"

"No! We watched your holovid last week. You don't get two times in a row."

"Damn it, Tannner! I am not watching some gods-awful holovid that requires

me to pay attention and _think_. I need my brain cells for other things. _Not_ for entertainment. I had a very long and crappy day today and this is my night to loaf and be a couch ornament."

"You can loaf all you like, but I am not watching a holovid where the main plot involves a series of exploding banthas!"

"It's _not_ about exploding banthas."

"Yeah? Then why is the title of the holovid called _Exploding Banthas_?"

Yeah, okay, he had me there. But who didn't enjoy watching giant four-legged hairy beasts get randomly blown up? I mean, come on! And they weren't real banthas anyway, just holo-generated. No animals were harmed in the making of this vid and all that good stuff. Tanner wasn't going for it though. He was into those holovids that made you think and consider and wonder and work your brain cells for two straight hours until you crawled your way mercilessly to the end. They were the type of vids that tested your mind rather than your testosterone-driven need for action, chaos and explosions.

Tanner though, he was eleven. Eleven! How could an eleven year old boy be so completely sold on all that 'thinking' crap? Or even understand it! He was always thinking too much and now it had flooded into his entertainment.

I on the other hand was seventeen. I had needs. Tops among them were holovids with things that went boom. With a mind and body used to slumping on the couch and drooling out of the left side of my mouth as I starred at a monitor for a hundred and twenty minutes, this was my time to relax and be exactly what I was. And what I was most of the time, was an irritating teenager. And that required me to enjoy the years I was given. There was enough responsibility on me in my life; my down time needed to be of the non-brain frying variety.

So anyway, he'd gotten me on what the holovid was about, but still… "Come on, Mouse. You like animals, right? Well this vid has animals in almost every scene."

"Yes, and I'm sure they are bursting into a thousand tiny bloody pieces in each of those scenes."

"They're not real."

"It's stupid."

Hmm…he had me there too. But again. Me. Seventeen. Male. Needs. Okay?

"We all need a little stupid in our lives. Now. Give. Up. The. Clicker!"

I dived at my brother, flattening him against the couch. The hand holding the clicker had stretched away from me. And then…and then the little bugger used that trick he'd been practicing and did that creepy Force crap to lift the clicker out of his hand and just out of my reach. Fortunately for me, his control still left a lot to be desired and the device fell quickly to the floor. I leaped after it, but each time I did, he Force-pushed it a few inches further across the floor. Damn Jedi! He had trouble with control when things were airborne, but put something on the floor and I was screwed.

Eventually I gave up crawling around on the floor chasing a small metal clicker (in other words, looking like a complete and total moron) and went after the kid who was behind the magic. I jumped at Tanner again and tackled him. The force of us together was too much and we propelled backwards, flipping one half of Colton's giant couch on its backside. We tumbled over – the couch with us – and were left tangled together, legs sticking out at all odd angles on the overturned section. Colton of course, being the man who seems to know and see all, picked that exact moment to wander into the room. Whoops!

"What the hell are you two doing?"

I tried to untangle myself and succeeded only in making things worse. Tanner had the clicker again too. Damn it!

"Dashen Lesedi, you have five seconds to get off your brother, stand up, fix my couch and explain."

"Five sec…"

"Four…three…"

I untangled and stood, leaving my clicker-thief brother prone on the floor as he slid his body off the couch. I lifted the furniture and placed it back into position immediately before the swat came that I had fully expected, but couldn't do anything about, except…"OUCH!"

Virgil Colton stood over me, long blond hair pulled back tight and blue eyes blazing. "I said five seconds. That was decidedly longer. Help your brother up. And then explain. Now."

I pulled Tanner off the floor as we faced Colton and then began simultaneously spouting our side of the story. Naturally…it didn't last long. Our ears became leashes as we were dragged to the steps leading upstairs to our apartment before being released…and lectured.

"You know the rules. First of all, there is no holovid watching on my couch unless I am in the room. Why? Well, you saw what happened when I wasn't here. Second. Nothing in your house rule book states that you have to watch holovids together _and_ at the same time. Correct? Good. Third. You break the clicker and I will hurt you. Fourth. No magic in my common room. And finally, stop acting like idiots, you idiots. You especially Dash. You are seventeen and a big brother, act like it."

I wanted to tell him that I was acting like it, but I thought that would be bad. Instead, I nodded and agreed.

"Now, if you really feel the need to watch holovids together then compromise will happen, or I will impair the both of you. It's not difficult to figure this out. Figure it out!" He paused for a minute and I thought him done, until, "Oh and Dash? It wouldn't kill you to watch something that didn't involve explosions, speeder chases, scantily clothed women, and blaster battles once in a while. And I've seen _Exploding Banthas_ already. It's repetitive, foolish and has no plot to speak of."

Uh huh. I knew what that meant. "You loved it, didn't you?"

The big man smiled. "I did. And you will. But the kid won't. So leave him be for once. Save it for one of those times when you watch alone."

That wasn't compromise, but I guess he was right. Tanner wouldn't enjoy it and I shouldn't drag him into watching. But that didn't mean I had to watch his crap either. But…damn it. Kids his age shouldn't have to sit alone and watch holovids, right? Me, sure, why not? I could drown myself in my own personal tastes, but Tanner enjoyed company. And that is exactly where Colton's 'compromise' statement had been aimed. At me. I _was_ the big brother. I _was_ responsible for my little brother. Part of that responsibility involved the simple things like sitting with him to watch a holovid all the while stuffing our faces with sugary drinks and junk food. The actual _holovid_ part of it wasn't all that important. The time spent as brothers…that's what really mattered.

Okay. I got it now. As usual, it took Colton to knock it into my head. And also as usual, he stood there glaring at me until my brain finished processing and my Ah-Ha! moment happened. And when I finally did get it, he pounded me on the back.

"Good boy, Dash."

"Yeah, ouch. Whatever. You can go now by the way."

Another smile and he walked off, content in having been witness to another instance of _Dashen is a bone-head_.

I turned to Tanner. "Okay, Mouse. How about this deal, you pick the holovid, I'll pick the junk food?"

His pale brown eyes peered up at me and he bounced on his socked feet for several seconds thinking it over.

"Deal!"

"Good. Go get us set up upstairs – I think we lost privileges with Colton's couch by using it as a wrestling area – and I'll raid a few cabinets in his kitchen for some teeth-rotting junk food."

Flying feet hurried up the steps. By the time I'd cleaned out half of Colton's sugar-laden goodies, Tanner was prepped and ready with the holovid geared up. I dumped an armful of snacks between us…onto our _own_ couch. It was fourteen times smaller than the Colton's, but we could tackle it and no one would smack me in the back of the head as a result.

We sat. Goodies in hand. Drinks standing by. Tanner took the clicker and pressed the play button. I was fully prepared to suffer through some long, thought-provoking mystery of monotony and boredom when the opening credit scene of _Exploding Banthas_ began. I saw the title screen and then looked over to smile at my brother. Ah, what a kid. I had to do it, just had to…and I reached over and ruffled his long hair.

Hair ruffles. What every boy hates.

I smirked at him and he used the Force to jam a small brown piece of gooey chocolate-filled candy up my nose. Damn Jedi. He was getting better as this Force stuff all the time, at least when it came to annoying me with it.

No annoyance this time though. I'd earned it with the hair ruffle, I thought, as I picked the chocolate from my left nostril and wrapped it in a tissue.

"Call it even?" I said to him.

His response was just a simple silly grin - exactly what I'd expected.

Then we leaned back, stuffed our faces with junk food and waited for the banthas to start exploding.

* * *

_The End._


	8. Bully

_Now into story 8 in this series, I never expected it to find any fans, but I'm so glad it did. Thanks to Crazy, Indigo and Name What Name for the reviews. Thanks also to a couple Guest/Anon PMs as well. And in response to one of those Guest PMs – yes, I do plan to do some stories that take place later in their lives such as when Tanner actually does become a teacher (and maybe beyond that). For now, I'm sort of just writing what comes to me. I have ideas though for the twenty-something version of Tanner eventually. The stories I have currently almost or partially done, range from him at nine to all over his teen years. So, definitely more to come! Thanks to all you guys! _

_Here's the next story in the series!_

* * *

**Chapter Title:** Bully

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Dashen (Tanner is 9, Dash is 15)

**Chapter Summary:** Tanner's first week in his new school is troubling.

**Series Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi)

* * *

"Damn it, what now?"

The forth com call in a row I almost didn't answer this one, but I decided last second to grab it.

"HELLO!?"

The voice on the other end seemed surprised at my bellowed tone.

"Dashen Lesedi?"

"Yes?"

"This is the Dean Ma'Lani at Kaolin School 3. You are the brother and guardian of Tannerlin Vai Lesedi, correct?"

My tone shifted immediately; as did my stomach. It was Tanner's school calling. "That's correct." Lesedi wasn't Tanner's true last name; Vai was. But it was simpler and safer all around for him to just add my Sur name to the end of his. On my home planet of Terra, it was beyond easy to bogus up a few papers. Rules weren't too strict for certain things, at least when it came to guardianship – don't ask me why that was the case, but it was fortunate for us. So I had the kid assume my last name. But why the hell was the school calling? He'd only been attending for six days now and he wasn't the type to get into trouble – at least not that I'd noticed in our four months together as fake siblings. "Is something wrong? Is he okay?" I spit the questions out quickly and overlapping, I think she'd understood though. The angry tone present when I'd first answered the call, long gone.

Dean Ma'Lani worked to ease my worries. "He's fine and is here with me now. Do you have time to stop in? I need to speak with you directly."

I stumbled a bit at the unexpected request. "Ah uh…yes. I can do that. I'll be there shortly."

I chimed the door of the Dean's office after amazing myself that I hadn't gotten lost finding it. This school was like a damn maze and my internal nav unit didn't always function well when I was flustered. Tanner was there, sitting in the chair with his back facing the door. Dean Ma'Lani – an older, blue skinned, scaly type woman with short gray hair stood to greet me.

"Mr. Lesedi, please come in."

I put a hand on Tanner's shoulder as I stood near and felt him look up at me. Outwardly, he appeared okay, but seemed nervous. Then after he spoke, he didn't _seem_ nervous…he just flat out _was _nervous. His words trembled. "I'm sorry, Dashen. I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't. Honest."

I tightened my grip on his shoulder and returned his worried look. "It's okay, Mouse. I know you didn't. You don't have to apologize."

"Mr. Lesedi, if I might speak with you alone."

"Yeah. Tanner, how about you wait for me just outside in the office lobby? Work on one of your home assignments and I'll be out soon."

Having seen the kid at his worst four months ago, this seemed tamer, but odd. If I could use a word for the first time in my life, he appeared_ forlorn_. I watched him slowly wander out the door, shoulders down. Unlike him. Forlorn indeed. And he was a little stiff in his stride too. Also odd, especially since injuries had healed long ago. Once the door closed behind him, I sat and was about to ask what the hell was going on, when the Dean started first.

"Evidently, your brother has been the victim of bullying during his first days. Unfortunately, the staff and myself were not aware of it until today."

Bullying? Here? We – well, Colton – was paying out the wazoo to put Tanner in this school. It had one of the best reputations and strongest learning programs on the planet. So…bullying?

She continued. "From what Tannerlin has told us, there has been verbal ridiculing for most of the week from five other boys. Teasing about his looks, the short hair, the clothes, the braid. Accusing him of a being, and I quote, a "Jedi wannabe who should be slaughtered like those he strives to imitate." That was from one particular boy who will be dealt with personally by my office, rest assured. And there were other things as well. They taunted him about the death of his parents; that they purposely died so they could get away from him; that even his brother cannot wait for the day to be free of the burden. A few also derided him for being a particular favorite of the teacher and for believing himself above everyone else."

Tanner? Seriously? Not this kid. Not in this lifetime. I didn't see it. I couldn't see it.

"From what I understand," she went on, "from witnesses who have just now come forward, Tannerlin sat quietly as the verbal harassments took place over this course of days. He refused to react to their assaults. Today however, from what I've been told, several of the boys actually turned their abuse to physical beatings. And this time it was witnessed by others. When he didn't react to the verbal abuse, they began to physically assault his body. He was curled into a fetal ball until help came, then he was brought here where he has been for the last hour. I have had our school healer examine at him. Some minor bruising to his ribs and back. He will be well in a few days."

My turn. I was angry. No. Scratch that. I was royally ticked off. But knowing our situation, our secret – that Tanner was not _pretending _to be a Jedi – that kept me from boiling over. I was cool in my response.

"Dean Ma'Lani, excuse me for asking, but why wasn't anything noticed before and how is this even permitted in what is_ supposedly_ such a prestigious school?"

Good, Dash, good. Keep your cool. It _was_ good, because in reality, I wanted to punch her in the face and ask why she didn't know this crap was going on under her blue, scaly nose. But I didn't. That would have probably been a bad idea. Instead, I listened.

"Some first year students often have issues. Despite the high price tag and reputation of our school, first year is difficult. Many of these students come from…unusual backgrounds," (she meant they came from criminal families – families that had no trouble footing the bill for this place to get their kid educated enough to someday take over the _family business_) "and some lack the appropriate social skills when mixed in with so many others of similar age. Our best efforts however cannot afford us to be everywhere at all times and the most creative of first year students," – again she meant the criminally-attached children – "have ways to deceive us. Assuming they graduate first year, the problem children are often corrected children by the time second year comes. We have no difficulties in our second year classes, and that is the other item I wish to discuss with you."

Well, I wanted to talk more about why my brother – technically not my brother, but that was need to know only – was being verbally and physically abused just for being a good kid. I wanted to know if those who did this were being punished. And frankly I wanted to wring their scrawny little necks. But…I managed to contain myself and allowed her to continue.

"I have spoken to his teacher and we both believe it would be best for Tannerlin to be placed into second year classes. It would require more studying and it is more difficult. He also would have to catch up with where the curriculum is now. However, everything I hear about Tannerlin is positive. He is attentive to the teacher. Respectful. And most unlike many of our first years, he comes after class to ask questions, as if he's actually interested in how the class and studies are prepared."

I smiled. "He _is _interested. More than interested, if that's possible. He wants to be a teacher when he grows up. His…our father was a teacher. Tanner is very serious about following in those same footsteps."

"I see. That is good to know. I believe that being in second year class will be for the benefit. I wish you to speak with him over these next two end of week days. If he agrees, have him report to building 2 for classes next week and see Master-Professor Sanya Ellaan. She will be expecting him."

This had to be a good thing, right? More work sure, but Tanner loved learning. The kid was like a damn sponge sometimes and they were moving him forward, not back. Still, a lot of pressure on a nine year old who was four months removed from his life being turned inside out and upside down. The school didn't know his exact background. Our story was that technically we were half-brothers. That his mother had died long ago – he didn't know her – and that his father (our father) had died four months ago. (Technically he had, that being Tanner's Jedi master.) My own father died about four years ago, but the school didn't need to know that either. Our story worked…so far.

"Mr. Lesedi?" The Dean's voice brought me back to the present moment. "Tannerlin is a fine student. You have done well raising him since your father passed." Four months and a successful parent already! Yay for me! "And he will do well here once we get him correctly placed. Thank you for coming down so quickly."

My exit cue. I still wanted to ask my other questions, but they could wait. I'd see how things went next week and play it from there. After all, I could wring scrawny little necks next week just as well as I could this one.

Tanner was waiting for me outside. We walked in silence out of the building and down several blocks. I bought him his favorite dinner, Bantha steak pizza. Now that he had a full-fledged appetite back, I never refused stuffing a nice fattening meal into him. Skinny as he was, he didn't put weight on very quickly. The kid's metabolism was insane. People would give up their firstborns to have that type of bodily function working for them.

We got home, he was still quiet. Colton was out of the house on business so we staked a claim to his extra large kitchen. If only we had a party of thirty, we'd fill it out nicely. But this evening, it was just me and the kid. A very quiet and very withdrawn kid, mind you, but at least he was safe with me at home now. I set a pizza filled plate in front of him along with a glass of berry juice.

"You did the right thing in not reacting to what they did, Tanner. You know that."

He gave me a nod.

"It was wrong what they did. What they said. They don't know anything about you and evidently, some parents don't have a clue how to raise a child."

A shrug and a hushed, "Okay."

"Eat your pizza before it gets cold. The Dean wants to move you into another class. Building 2 with the second year kids. Long story, but she says you'll do well there. It's more work and you'll have to play catch up, but…I think it'll be good for you. What do you think?"

Another nod as he mouthed a piece of steak off the cheese.

"Tanner..."

My slightly exasperated tone finally got him talking.

"I liked that class and the teacher. I was learning. I didn't do anything to them and they wouldn't just leave me alone. One of them kept pulling at my braid and mocking that I wanted to be a Jedi when I grew up and that maybe I should die…like they did."

That damn braid. He'd insisted on keeping it. We'd done our best to hide it when his hair was really short. Now that his hair had four months growth on it and was a little longer, it didn't stick out like a sore thumb, but was still hard to miss. And because he refused to take the white band off of it, it was easy to zero in on until his hair grew to the same length. The white band, he'd told me, signified that he was a second year Jedi apprentice. I couldn't convince him to change or to cut the thing off. I gave up after a time realizing that he didn't have much left of his previous life to hold on to, but this one thing was important. Of course now it was making him a target of bullies, and I was pretty sure that was not the intended meaning of the braid.

"Idiots," I said out loud.

"What?"

"They're idiots. That's why they did it. And not the type of idiot that I usually claim - according to Colton - but full-fledged idiocracy."

Victory! A small smile. I tugged his braid. "This thing is going to get you in trouble so we need a story for it. It's not far off actually to say you wear it in memory of your father. Maybe we should go with that. Good idea, Dash. Thanks, Dash. I knew you'd appreciate it. Dash is a good thinker sometimes. Don't tell Colton."

Two for two! Another smile. We ate our pizza and Tanner decided that the plan Dean Ma'Lani had come up with was the right one. I had to leave the decision up to him. This wasn't mine to make. His life, his decision. He'd made it. This was a kid who loved to listen and loved to learn and even loved his home assignments. Sickening, I know, but he did. And although the second year students would be taller and older, at ten and eleven years, I took the Dean's word that there wouldn't be anyone pushing my…little brother around. I was getting used to calling him that. Three months ago I would have laughed in your face about it, but now, the kid seemed here to stay. And we made a good fit. I mean, I was a fifteen year old raising a nine year old, but stranger things have happened. I could do this. _We_ could do this.

Dinner over, I found Tanner in our apartment common room working on a home assignment. It was an assignment that he wasn't required to complete with the class switch now set for next week, but it was no great shock that it didn't seem to matter to him. It was an assignment and he'd been told to complete it, so he did. Jedi training or not, I think perhaps he was just that type of kid.

"Hey," I said as a came to the couch. "You're a pretty good kid, you know that?" The most innocent and warmest of smiles crossed his face just then. So I couldn't help topping it off with, "You're a pretty good little brother too."

Ah, there it was. The reaction I'd expected. And the reaction I'd wanted? Yeah, we all need bear hugs once in a while. Tanner set his data pad down and treated me to maybe the best one ever. The most genuine are always the best.

"No more bullies, okay? You let me know if someone is picking on you. Let the teacher know. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I will," came the muffled reply against my tunic.

Hug released, I ruffled his hair. "Finish up. It's holovid night, remember?" Always the end of the week for us – holovid night. We'd punch up a vid at random – one of those _close your eyes and pick_ type deals – and then we'd have to watch whatever we choose. Sometimes it was great. Sometimes we just laughed our butts off at what we had to suffer through. Last week, Tanner had to cover his eyes for half the vid when we ended up on a mild romance holo. This week, ironically enough, we landed on a vid about brothers. Long lost half brothers of different races that found each other long after childhood had come and gone, one (the younger) had suffered abuses during his life, the other (the older) had lived the almost perfect life, and naturally it ended with their deaths – big brother trying to protect little brother to the end - though they died together. It was one of those damn tearjerker vids – if you were a girl of course. I myself didn't shed one tear – at least not visibly. I caught them all with a tissue before they _became_ visible. Tanner on the other hand seemed to need a good cry. With the trying week and the abuse he'd taken…and the restirring of difficult memories of the Jedi – the vid was the catalyst to allow it all to pour out. I wrapped him tight next to me, big brother protecting little brother…just like in the holovids.

* * *

_The end_


	9. Blaster

**Chapter Title:** Blaster

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Dashen (Tannerlin is 11, Dashen is 17)

**Chapter Summary:** Dashen's determination to not carry a blaster as a weapon backfires on him.

**Summary:** A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi and Tannerlin Vai (Jedi)

* * *

_Take the blaster. You'll need it. Those people play nasty. _

I listened and I blew it off as another of Colton's ridiculous attempts to get me to carry a gun. I didn't like guns and I didn't see a real reason to carry one. I'd never had a scrap that I couldn't get out of…eventually…without the use of a blaster, so why weigh myself down with one?

Answer?

I wasn't looking after me on this trip; I was looking after Tanner too.

Follow-up answer?

I'd found a scrap that I couldn't get out of without a blaster.

Follow-up to follow-up answer?

I'm an idiot.

So, the guy I'd lifted the gold pendants from had a bit of an issue with those items leaving his personal space. My client – Zacheus - the one who'd sent me on this journey, had said, no worries! Piece of cake and all that crap. It was a piece of something all right. What my client didn't tell me is that the guy he'd sent me to take the pendants from was his cousin – a part-time business man and also a part-time gangster.

Nice.

Not that I hadn't fallen into domestic disputes in the past as part of my line of work, but normally it's a lot less eventful than what this scene was becoming.

Gangster Boy, aka Yanis, not only had the blaster that I now craved, but also had it aimed in a direction that didn't sit well with me. At the head of my eleven-year-old brother. He'd grabbed Tanner as soon as he'd tracked us down, which had taken all of ten minutes by the way. Something else my client had failed to tell me, Yanis was fast and smart. He held Tanner by the throat. I held his pendants by the index finger.

The man's green scaly skin rippled with excitement at the idea of having me cornered while also defeating his cousin at the game of thievery. His orange eyes crept from Tanner to me, as he fanged a smile with much-too-long razor sharp teeth.

"Drop the gold, thief, and ya boy won't be hurt."

Uh huh…sure. Wasn't that a standard line of that all bad guys used when they had their victim's back to the wall? Give me what I want and all will be well. Right? Yeah. In one of those perfect holovid worlds perhaps.

I responded with the standard and clichéd, "Let him go first, then you can have your gold back."

He laughed at me. Also a cliché. This wasn't going well.

"Seems ya got more to lose than me, thief. I can smell that this boy ain't no thief, so ya's draggin' him along for another reason. That means ya want him back in one piece, heh?"

That would be preferred, yes. But I'd rather find a way for a double win here. Safe brother and I got to keep the lute. This was a big money run for me. My client was paying triple the going rate for a normal job. Money like that was hard to pass up, especially when you needed it. What I needed most right now however, was Tanner's undivided attention.

"What do you think, Mouse?" I said.

Tanner's voice was small and strained as he spoke past the arm cutting into his throat. "I think you should have brought the blaster that Uncle tried to give you."

"Yeah, sure. But you know me, kid. And I know you too."

I glared hard at him, trying to get him to understand. Yanis squeezed Tanner's throat harder. "Ya can pass all the secret looks ya want, thief. The boy ain't leaving vertical and breathin' if I don't get my gold."

"Secret looks? I glare at the kid all the time." I did it again and saw Tanner's brown eyes give one long blink in return. He got it. And we had one shot. One shot for him to use his slowly growing Force ability to try and distract Yanis long enough for me to do something heroic.

"Ya got one minute. Then, I shoot off the boy's ears."

Tanner'd never forgive me if I let him wander around the galaxy with no ears, so that couldn't happen. I glared once more at my brother and blinked slowly. In the split second that followed, his face clenched in concentration as a nearby rock levitated and then began moving in our general direction. But, you see…Tanner, being young and practically untrained, well, his aim wasn't quite up to speed just yet and instead of the rock pelting Yanis in the face as hoped, it smacked him in the knee instead. The good part of all of this was that although the aim was off, the velocity behind it was strong and for a brief second after being tagged in the leg, the big man's eyes floated downward. I took that tiniest of windows, dived forward, ripped the gun from Yanis' hand, saved my brother and got away with the gold! Hero of the day, right? Ah, well…no. Not quite.

I did dive forward. I did rip the gun from his hand…and knocked it right into his other hand. I didn't save my brother and I didn't get away with the gold. Well…time for plan B. The most prevalent of the pendants in my hand was large, decently heavy and hung on a long, pricey chain. I swung it into the face of Yanis, hitting him square in three of his closely-set four eyes, grabbed Tanner, dropped most of the remaining pendants and got the hell out of Dodge. Surprisingly, Yanis didn't fire at us. Instead he picked up his gold and shouted a warning.

"Don't need to keel ya, thief. I know my cousin arranged this play. Oh, and look there see?"

I turned in the direction he pointed and the last thing I remember was a fist the size of a bolder flying towards my face. My very next memory was of Tanner sitting over me with a hand pressing something red, round and frozen over my eye. That something smelled like raw meat. And that's because, why? It was raw meat! I slapped it away.

"I prefer my bantha steak well-done, thank you."

Tanner retrieved the frozen patty and slapped it back onto my face.

"It's helping the inflammation, or do you want your right eye to swell shut?"

"That bad, huh?"

"It was one of Yanis' henchmen. He was about nine feet tall and four feet wide. He knocked you cold, took that last pendant out of your hand and walked away. I think he was belly laughing all the way home. Does this mean you don't get paid for the job?"

I sighed and relented with the icy steak, allowing Tanner to keep it settled over my eye. My face felt like someone had squeezed it in a vise, the right side in particular.

"Not only don't I get paid, but it'll be a while before Zacheus hires me again."

"At least you're alive."

"What color is my face?"

"What color isn't your face?"

"Oh. Right. Never mind. Where are we anyway?" I'd determined I was on the floor in a large room. Beyond that, who knew?

"In a hold room waiting for our transport home. I bought the steak from a local vendor. We have about twenty minutes." Tanner briefly paused to think about something. Then he abruptly stopped thinking about that same something and spit it right out.

"You should carry a blaster."

I should be a mind reader. That's exactly what I figured he would say to me after this ordeal. But I couldn't agree with him. Despite what had happened – what had almost happened – carrying a weapon like that just wasn't who I was, or who I wanted to be.

"Sorry, Mouse." I sat up and took over steak holding duties. "No can do."

Not to my surprise, there was no argument about the issue. Tanner knew me well enough by now to know when I honestly meant what I said. This was one of those times and I appreciated him letting it go without a battle. The whole blaster thing…carrying one meant that I'd have to be prepared to kill someone with it if or when the time came. I wasn't much for death, either on the receiving end or the giving end.

I got my feet under me and stood; a bit wobbly, but vertical. Those twenty minutes had to be up soon. I was ready to get home.

A bell sounded as the spaceport's paging system announced the next interplanetary transports on schedule for boarding. Planet of Terra; town of Kaolin– home – awaited in about four hours time.

Tanner supported me to the spacecraft and to a seat in the back. Good, less chaotic back there. I could snooze in relative peace; which I did, all the way home. Zacheus would get the bad news tomorrow. Right now, all I wanted was my bed and another frozen animal patty for my black and blue face. Oh and maybe a new line of work. At seventeen, was I already too old for this? I mean, it wasn't just me now. I had another counting on me too. And in that regard, living past seventeen would seem to be important.

Those were big time worries for the now, but I'd have to worry on them later. My ego hurt. My head hurt. My money belt hurt – running damn close to empty at the moment.

Sleep would solve everything. It always did. I hoped for good dreams. I just hoped those dreams didn't try and convince me to start carrying a blaster.

They did.

Huh.

Good thing I don't listen to my dreams.

* * *

The End


	10. Run, Dashen, Run!

**Chapter Title:** Run, Dashen, Run!

**Series Title**: Unlikely Brothers

**Author:** Obi the Kid

**POV:** Dashen (Tanner is 16, Dash is 22)

**Chapter Summary**: The boys get lost in the woods.

**Summary:** A series of _non-chronological_ stories taking place in the world of my original characters Dashen and Tannerlin.

**Rating:** PG

**Characters:** Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi)

* * *

"Damn it, Dash, we're lost!"

"We're not lost. Just use your Force thingy to point us in the right direction."

"It's not a navigational system, you idiot. I can't just point my head north and…"

"Well then, what good is it? Huh?"

I shouldn't say stupid things. It usually gets me into trouble. This time is got me a swat to the back of the head with a stick. A Force-driven stick launched and swung ten feet away from where my brother was actually standing. Damn Jedi.

"OW! Why, Tanner? Just…why?"

"You asked what use the Force was. Now you know. And anyway, you're the outdoors expert in this duo. Isn't there some rule about moss only growing on the north side of a tree or something?"

Tanner was actually serious. Me? Outdoors? Moss? Trees? I was many things. Nature Boy I was not. "My job forces me outdoors. I don't live there, nor do I know anything about moss and northward facing trees."

"The_ tree_ doesn't face north, it…"

"What does it matter? We don't even know what direction to go in, so knowing north from south is about a helpful as you using your creepy Force stuff to smack me in the head. Now…we need a plan because it won't be daylight forever."

"Come on."

I ran a hand through my long dark hair and blew out an exasperated breath, wondering how we'd gotten lost here in the first place. Actually I did know, but just didn't feel like admitting it. We were foolish and overconfident and taking this shortcut was going to save us about six hours of walking on this job. Some would call us typical guys. My boss, Virgil Colton, would just call me an idiot. But if I was an idiot, then my brother, Tanner, was right there with me this time. Sure I bested him by six years in age and about eight inches in height, and we were as different as night and day, but at times we were identical in being flat out stupid. And as Colton would say…stupid is as stupid does.

Yeah…I should never ever tell Colt about this. Not…ever.

Tanner stopped walking after two hours. Two very _long_ hours. He stood and listened. I knew that stance well enough to keep my mouth shut until he heard what he was after.

I don't think he heard it.

"Well?" I asked.

"I got nothin'."

The ground looked dry, I sat. A few minutes later, Tanner plopped down next to me.

"Soooo, we really are lost, Dash. But didn't you say that you grew up in these woods? Something about you and your brother used to play hiding games here when you were kids."

My brother – my real brother by blood, Kossi, who had died when I was thirteen. Tanner was the non-blood brother that I'd found when I was fifteen and he was right about Kossi and I. We had roamed these woods…sorta.

"When I said we'd been in these woods, I didn't mean _in_, as in this deep. We played on the outskirts where our parents could keep an eye on us. We'd earn a smack on the butt if we ventured in too far."

"And now you earn smacks on the head instead," said my brother with a smirk and a gleam in his pale brown eyes.

"Funny, Mouse, real funny." The nickname would get him. Always did. I got another Force-swat to the head, sans stick this time. "Okay, fine. Let's camp for the night. There won't be much light though, the moons are in their dark cycle. Use your Force crap to light a fire, will you?"

"I'm just a tool at times, aren't I?"

"Yes, but a very useful one. Come on, Tanner, it's getting cold out there."

Didn't take him but forty seconds to spark a campfire to life. He'd become extremely fruitful at using the Force for the small things. It took him a lot of hard work and concentration, but he put the time in every day to figure it all out. A lot of abilities, he told me, remained far out of his reach. Without an elder, experienced Jedi to lead him through the most difficult training, some of those things would forever stay out of reach. It was disappointing to him, I knew. He held his Jedi values close to his heart, and he longed to be as well balanced and capable as his master had been before he'd been slaughtered by the Empire seven years ago. Never would he reach that goal completely, but it would never be from lack of effort or dedication. I respected him for that more than anything - his ability to stay true and committed to a cause long after most others would have let it lapse.

He was still a pain in the butt though.

The fire reached high and hot, crackling and popping as it matured. I halfway thought about sleeping, but decided against it. I wasn't much on becoming one with the weeds, dirt, bugs and filth. And besides…something was wrong. Tanner had that look again – listening for something in the distance. This time he did hear it.

"You got something, Mouse?"

"Quiet."

I obeyed and waited. And waited. Ten minutes passed when he finally spoke again.

"We need to run."

Okay, so I wasn't expecting that. "Uh…what?"

"Seriously. We need to run. Put the fire out and go. Do it now!"

"But…"

"NOW, Dash!"

"Okay, okay." I kicked dirt at the fire until reduced to coals and then was yanked forward into the dark.

"Stay close and keep running."

"I can hardly see you, Tanner. What the hell is going on?" I gasped. The sudden sprint already had me huffing. It's what I got for not keeping in running shape in recent months. "Tanner!"

"Monster…in the woods," he finally yelled back to me as we galloped and leaped and raced through the thick forest.

Wait. Did he just say 'monster'? There's no such thing as monsters. I mean real ones. Terra has predators sure, but monsters? I tried to tug my brother to a stop. He didn't stop, but instead reached around me with the Force and pushed me forward. I fell with the sudden power coming from my backside. He pulled me up and lessened the push a bit. We sprinted again.

"Tan…no such thing…as…monster…"

"You should…get out…more, big brother. Mon…sters…are every…where."

Not a hundred percent sure what he meant, but when Tanner got serious about something I tended to listen…most of the time. I wasn't sold on the monster thing yet, but I kept running. Eventually I started falling behind, even with the Force aid. My brother was small and slim. Perfect for navigating in situations like this. I was tall and lean and kept getting smacked in the face by branches hanging too low – or my head being too high. I fell again and was losing what little sight I had of Tanner. Then, I was upright, just in time to hear his voice sounding from the darkness ahead. "Run, Dashen, RUN!"

"Trying to…trying…if I get nailed by one more of these damn trees…ouch! Wait…what was that? Tanner?"

Everything went quiet; complete and abrupt quiet. No wind. No insects. No night birds. No brother. Just me. Alone. In the dark. "Tanner?" I called. My call went unanswered. Damn damn damn damn damn. Had the monster eaten my brother? Wait…what? No monster. There's no monster here. Not on Terra. Not in this forest. Just my imagination and the eerie silence…"Tanner? Where the hell are you?"

Still nothing…but me. Alone in the dark woods without a sound around me. I've been scared in the past. This was going to rival those times. I could actually feel my heart rate escalating as I swallowed heavily and tried to keep from freaking out.

Then, from next to me, a sound. A crackling of leaves on the forest floor and then…he was there.

"I told you to run, Dashen! Damn it, RUN!"

I about jumped out of my skin right then and there. One minute Tanner was nowhere, the next minute he was in my ear. My feet left the ground about three feet below as I jumped and fell backward. He grabbed me up and shook me…then stopped. Dead silent again. I opened my mouth to speak; he slapped a hand over it. I could see him now through the blue glow between us. It wasn't often that he used his light saber, or even brought it from the house, but for whatever reason, he had this time and I was beyond grateful. His right hand held it at chest level as his other hand was still slapped across my big mouth.

Finally the hand slid away and he whispered, "We're safe for the moment. But we can't stay here."

"Would you please tell me what the hell is going on? And where did you go? And where did you come from? How did you sneak up on me like that?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Because I want a lot of answers; especially about the sneaking thing."

"It's simple. You were pre-occupied with being scared to death so you just didn't notice me."

"I would have had you said something. Don't do that again, you hear me? And what is this monster you're babbling about?"

"Walk and I'll talk. Just trust me, Dash, okay? For once, let me lead."

My brother wasn't a born leader, but more of a middle of the road type personality. Willing to submit and follow, but also willing to stand his ground if he believed in something. So when he did take the lead, it meant something. I submitted this time. "Fine, but I want a full explanation. And why didn't you tell me you brought your light saber along?"

"I had it hanging on my belt. I figured you could see it. It's hard to miss."

True. I made a face and wondered if I losing my focus on details in my maturing age. I mean once you hit twenty-two, it's all downhill from there, right?

"Dashen!"

I jumped again. A little less high this time though.

"Damn it! Stop that!"

"Pay attention. We need to find our way out of this forest before the sun comes up."

"Why?"

"The monster knows where we are, but it's limited by the dark. Once it has light, as long as we are _inside _the forest, it will find us, catch us and eat us. So we need to get outside the forest."

"I'm having a real hard time with the monster thing, Mouse. Can you give me a bit more detail please?"

"Giant lizard. Walks on all fours. It's about forty feet long and can eat anything."

Yeah…no. Just no. A giant lizard roaming a forest on Terra? Nope. Not believing it.

"I felt it before I saw it."

"You felt it? So the thing is Force capable?"

"No, but it's Force sensitive. Just as bad. It can zero in on me easier. It's why we need to run."

"Great, lost in the forest with a giant man-eating Force lizard. Just perfect. Is it too late to disown you as my brother? It's not bad enough you have the Emperor's target on your head, but now you're on the hit list of a colossal man-eating lizard?"

He started jogging away from me. "The more you talk the more energy you burn. I'll keep my saber lit in case we get separated again. Follow the blue light. Now run."

We ran. And we ran. And we kept running until my lungs felt ready to explode twice over. But it was working and we were moving in the right direction. I could see the light at the end of the forest in my sight. I could also just flat out see. Crap. Daylight. The ground immediately shook with giant footsteps closing in on us. The lizard had followed us as we ran, honing in on Jedi-boy's Force signal that he was waving around for the world to see. I had no lung power left, and I know he didn't either. But we kept moving. I pushed him forward when he wobbled and I picked him up when he fell; my turn to protect and defend. Gathering Tanner off the ground, I glanced back and saw the massive reptile head coming through a patch of dense brush, right at us. Tanner was up and running and again moving ahead. I was up and running and tripping all over my feet. The panicked voice in front of me screamed.

"RUN, DASH, RUN! DON'T LOOK BACK. TRUST ME. JUST…RUN!"

I felt hot lizard breath on my heels. The forest perimeter was ahead. Couldn't have been more than a hundred yards. The long tongue grabbed my tunic and I started slowing.

A sudden flash of blue and I was free. Running again. That was one ticked off lizard behind me though. At this point, it was now missing half of its tongue but that didn't stop it from lunging once more. Tanner was just outside the forest. I could see him only ten feet away as the creature was on me. In the next split second I saw my brother close his eyes, hold out his right hand, palm forward as his face scrunched into ugly. Milliseconds later, the beast's lunge was stalled a foot short of pouncing on my back and having me for breakfast.

The sensation of the soft grassy field smacking me in the face as I leaped and landed face down into it had to be the most welcomed feeling of my entire life. I stayed there, my nose planted in the soil, heaving deep, staggering breaths in and out of my burning lungs. Hands were on my back, pressing down, feeling for injury and making sure I was all right. Those same hands rolled me over onto my back and wiped the dirt off my face, before reaching around to hug me in relief.

"S'okay, Tanner. I'm…good. Jus…need a couple…new lungs….is…all."

I sat up with help and glanced back briefly at the forest. Sure enough the lizard hadn't stepped one single foot into the open field. Now I knew why our parents had kept me and Kossi so close to the edge. They knew what lurked deeper in. I was just a stupid kid at the time, and even if someone had told me about the lizard, I'd probably have either blew them off or would have wanted to actually go hunt it. Kids will be kids and kids will be foolish. Not this kid. Not anymore. No more forests for me. I looked over at my brother sitting at my side; breathing heavy, but upright, vertical and with no visable injuries. He was however, exhausted and empty. Empty from what he'd just done. I'd seen his power. It took everything he had in him (including the panic), but he'd pushed that lizard back about two feet - just enough for me to leap to safety. No idea how you practice for that. It's not often you have mutant reptiles roaming the streets just waiting for Super Teen-Jedi to start slapping them around. The kid had power and was learning to use it.

And to be honest, I think it startled him.

"You okay," I asked him gently as he struggled harder than I to regain his breath.

"I think so."

"You saved my life, little brother."

"I don't know how though. I've never moved anything that size…much less…pushed it…away. It's a lot different than pillows and rocks."

"Well, when adrenaline kicks in, people never know what they are capable of. Maybe it works the same way with the Force."

"Maybe."

"It's okay, Tanner. Wherever you called that from, you did well."

"It was a bit scary."

That was different. I prodded carefully. "Giant scaly lizard scary or just scary scary?"

"I didn't know I had that inside, but you were in trouble and…"

And he was scared as hell that he was going to lose me. I tucked an arm around his shoulders and squeezed, pulling him close enough that our temple's touched briefly. "You did good, kid, and I'm safe because of that. Try not to over think it, all right? How about we figure out the best way home? We'll drop this jewel thing at Kalla's place and get our money. Then home. We'll both sleep for a week. Come on, help me up."

His mood lightened as we walked the five hour trek home. Now in daylight and in the open, we could track the position of the sun and allow it to guide us to where we needed to go. Less than a mile from home, Tanner started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You."

"And why would that be?"

"Your face has red whip marks all over it from all those branches that snacked into you. And you run funny."

"I'm tall, I can't help it. And if it wasn't for those trees getting in my way, I could have outrun your skinny butt without taking a deep breath."

"I could have slowed you down though."

"Cheating, Mouse? It's so below you," then a thought…"but, it's not below me. Race you home!" I shoved him down and ran as fast as my long legs would take me – which as it turned out, wasn't very fast and wasn't very far. I had nothing left after this latest adventure. Thankfully, Tanner didn't either and once he caught up to me a second later, we both slowed to what amounted to a walking crawl. A pace that we maintained for a few minutes more.

"Maybe I should have just let the lizard eat you."

"Eh, life would be pretty boring then, wouldn't it? No one to annoy, harass, or to just drive you crazy."

"That's true. And I wouldn't have anyone to do this to either."

Another Force-driven stick snuck up from behind and swatted me on my head as Tanner took off running…and laughing hysterically.

I ran after him (well, I tried). I ran, chasing him and laughing uncontrollably as I did.

Once inside our apartment, we both collapsed onto the couch, out of breath…no longer running, but still laughing.

* * *

The End.


End file.
